My Downfall: Alternate Ending
by LucretiaDecoy
Summary: Alternate ending to my fic My Downfall, starting with an alternate version of chapter 29 and continuing on. For introduction/prequel, please check My Downfall. This version is Kurama x Botan.
1. The Kiss

**A/N:** **This is the alternate ending to my other fic, "My Downfall". To fully understand this fic, read chaps 1-28 of "My Downfall". For anyone who read the original ending, this chapter isn't massively different, but from about halfway through there are subtle differences that quickly change the direction of the entire story, and not just from a romance point of view.**

 **Recap:** Kurama, Hiei and Yusuke advanced through the second round of the tournament, Botan asked Ayame for advice and Botan went to Kurama's apartment, where she met his keen female neighbours, his unorthodox pet plant Hana and she created a Fruit of Previous Life that had some very unusual side effects on Kurama.

* * *

 **Chapter 29: The Kiss**

"Shuichi!"

Botan balled her fists in frustration.

"Shuichi isn't here!"

Botan's jaw dropped at the sound of Kurama's voice behind her.

"Who are you?" the girl called back through the door.

Botan spun around, finding Kurama moving towards her. She quickly pressed the palm of one hand over his mouth to stop him saying any more. She felt his lips smile against her hand, and she shook her head urgently.

"Stop that!" she whispered. "How will you explain yourself later? They'll think you're hiding a girlfriend and a boyfriend in here!"

Botan slowly slid her hand from Kurama's mouth, feeling no less reassured when she saw that he was still smiling at her.

"There's only one girl out there," he whispered to her. "And one girl in here. That's two girls. I have two hands…"

Botan gasped in horror, but Kurama's smile widened.

"Hey, what's going on up here?" a second girl asked from outside the door.

Kurama arched his eyebrows, holding up three fingers. Botan shook her head again, stepping towards him. His smile widened again and she quickly scowled at him.

"Get away from the door!" she urged. "If they hear us, who knows what they'll think!"

When Kurama did not move Botan sighed and reluctantly put her hands on his chest, pushing him back as she walked forwards. Despite the fact that he could easily resist her, he staggered back, allowing her to push him all the way back into the bedroom. She quickly shut the door behind herself and pressed a finger to her lips to warn him to keep quiet. He shrugged and moved over to the tree she had grown, lifting up one bough and poking at a near-ripe fruit hanging there.

"I think we should kill this tree!" Botan hissed. "Look what it's done to you! It's turned you into a… A…"

"It's turned me into my full demon form," he replied, turning to her innocently. "The experiment was a success. And your little peach tasted delicious."

"It's not a peach!" Botan snapped. "It's an evil fruit! And besides, it looks more like a pear."

"I confess, I was just using a coy euphemism," he replied. "I thought it might make you blush."

Botan started to blush then, though only because he had just said that he wanted her to and that alone was embarrassing.

"I-I don't understand…" she stuttered nervously.

"Really?" he asked.

Botan really did not understand where the euphemism lay in his previous speech or what it was meant to represent, but she did understand the look in his eyes then.

"Oh goodness…" she muttered, touching her hands to her face. "My fruit has turned you into a foxy nymphomaniac!"

"Botan!" he gasped. "That's no sort of language for a ferry girl to be using!"

Botan started to blush again.

"Your fruit has merely turned me into a gentle fox cub," he said.

Botan started to relax, but when she saw the glint return to Kurama's golden eyes she quickly panicked again.

"You should relax," he said.

Botan shook her head, watching curiously as he lowered Hana to the ground, reaching his other hand into his hair to retrieve a seed.

"You keep everything in your hair, don't you?" she asked, laughing nervously. "I suppose that's why you wear it long. More room to hide things, right?"

Kurama smiled, tossing the seed over Botan's shoulder. She looked back curiously, wondering what he was doing, and she did not have to wait long for an answer: the seed exploded in a burst of green that quickly grew into a tall, thick stem before opening out into a large white flower. Botan turned to Kurama for an explanation, yelping as she found him once more advancing on her. She stumbled back, falling onto the petals of the flower, which were surprisingly comfortable to lie on. She momentarily enjoyed the springiness of lying on the flower before coming to her senses again as she saw Kurama reaching for her.

"Stay back!" she cried, rolling over and landing hard on the ground.

"Shouting and thumping about like that will only get the attention of my neighbours," he commented as she scrambled to her feet.

"You're doing this to me!" she argued.

"You did this to me," he replied, waving a hand at his current form.

"No," she said, vigorously shaking her head. "You did that to yourself, mister sexy pants!"

Kurama paused, looking slightly taken aback, a look that was entirely out of place on his full demon face.

"Not that I mean that I think you are sexy," Botan hurriedly added, her face growing hot. "J-Just that you're acting very sexy – no, wait, not that, I mean you're behaving – I mean–"

"It's alright, I know exactly what you mean."

"Y-you do?"

Kurama slowly walked over to stand in front of Botan, smiling gently. She gulped audibly, silently noting that he was not only infinitely more powerful in his full demon form but he was also substantially bigger: his shoulders were almost as broad as the doorway into the room and he was easily as tall as the door itself.

"But you're wrong," he said quietly. "With your fruit, I am but a gentle little fox cub."

He leaned towards her and Botan leaned back, almost losing her balance: this was becoming ridiculous.

* * *

"I'm listening," Koenma said, his face stern.

"Sir, Botan called me earlier today to ask for my advice on something," Ayame continued. "She said that she is in love with a demon, and she wanted to know if she ought to use her human body to consummate her relationship with him."

Koenma froze, barely believing what he was hearing.

"She was under the impression that it was the right thing to do," Ayame added. "If she's not with you now, I can only assume that she is following through with her plan."

"Botan?" Koenma eventually managed. "Botan is…? But she's so… She's such a…"

Koenma turned to George, finding that the ogre looked as shocked and concerned as he was. He then turned to Yusuke, feeling suddenly far worse when he saw that Yusuke did not look shocked or concerned: in fact, he looked guilty, like he was hiding something.

"I asked Hiei to wipe her memories of this," Koenma said sternly, looking down at Ayame again. "Obviously he has failed me, though I can't think why."

"You really can't think why?" Yusuke muttered.

"What?" Koenma echoed, his head snapping up and his eyes fixing onto Yusuke.

Yusuke grinned and shrugged his shoulders, but Koenma was not about to let his last comment slip.

"Do you know where Botan might be, Ayame?" Koenma asked the ferry girl.

"Unfortunately no, Sir," she replied. "But you should be able to locate her if she has her communicator with her."

"Alright, thanks for calling Ayame."

Koenma pushed a button to end the call and another to locate Botan's communicator. As he waited for a reply he lifted his eyes to Yusuke again.

"You better tell me everything you know, Yusuke," he warned.

"It's just…" Yusuke began. "Is it really such a big deal if Botan has a silly little crush on a demon? And before you answer that, remember that I'm a demon too!"

Koenma slowly narrowed his eyes.

"You're different," he coldly replied. "You can control your power. A demon unaccustomed to the weakness and vulnerability of a human body could literally tear Botan apart. Do you want that to happen?"

"No, of course not! Calm down!"

Koenma looked down at his communicator again, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"She's in the living world," he said. "Kyoto city."

"Why would she be there?" Yusuke asked. "That doesn't make any sense! I thought she was going to Genkai's place to see Yukina?"

"Obviously not," Koenma said, rising to his feet. "Yusuke, call Puu, I need to get to Kyoto city, and fast."

Yusuke stayed seated, looking up at Koenma.

"Now, Yusuke," Koenma repeated in a low voice.

"Are you sure you want to go running after them?" Yusuke asked. "It could be dangerous… I'll come with you."

Yusuke stood up but Koenma shook his head.

"I'm going alone," he said firmly. "Call Puu. Now!"

"Okay, keep your training pants on!" Yusuke said.

He sighed, stepping out from behind the table. Koenma followed him out of the restaurant and the hotel, out onto the street. Yusuke waved an arm to a shadow perching on a low-level building across the street before turning to Koenma and eying him over worriedly.

"I'm coming with you," he said.

"No you are not," Koenma said firmly.

"Well you can't exactly stop me," Yusuke pointed out. "And if you pick a fight with… I can't let that happen."

"This isn't your problem, Yusuke," Koenma stubbornly replied. "And you should be resting after your fight earlier today, you're still weakened."

"Yeah, maybe, but I'm still a hell of a lot stronger than you're beany little ass!"

Puu landed softly in front of them and Koenma quickly leapt onto the bird's back.

"This is really stupid!" Yusuke shouted up to him.

"It would be stupid to let it happen," Koenma snapped back.

Yusuke sighed, shaking his head.

"Fine then," he said. "Puu, take Koenma to Kyoto city."

Puu let out a cry and spread his wings.

"Just don't do anything totally stupid, Koenma!" Yusuke yelled as Puu started to take off.

"I'm going to do whatever I have to," Koenma yelled back.

"Idiot…" Yusuke grumbled.

Yusuke roughly pushed one hand through his hair, turning around to see George loitering by the hotel steps, looking terrified. Yusuke turned back to watch Puu fade into the night sky, silently hoping that Hiei did not try to murder Koenma for interfering: but it was difficult to hold onto that hope when deep down he had a bad feeling that Hiei would lose his temper and end up in spirit world prison before the night was through.

"What's his problem?"

"Eh?" Yusuke echoed. "Oh, you mean Koenma? He's gone to the living world to look for Botan."

"Oh? Why?"

"She told Ayame she's in love with a demon, and she's gone off to have sex with him, and Ayame told Koenma and now he's furious. He's going to try to stop it happening, but he doesn't stand a chance! I mean we all know how aggressive Hiei is – hey, wait, Hiei?"

Yusuke's head snapped downwards and his eyes locked onto the diminutive fire demon stood at his side, glaring up at him.

"But how can you be here?" Yusuke asked. "If Botan's in the living world with her boyfriend, shouldn't you be there too? It's you she's in love with, isn't it?"

Hiei's face slowly darkened and he started to bare his teeth, the look enough to make Yusuke recoil from him. He then reached up a hand and snatched off his bandana, his jagan opening abruptly and glowing blue against the darkness, his own eyes closing. Yusuke watched curiously as Hiei's angered scowl slowly melted into a look that almost seemed like Hiei was in pain somehow. Just as the look was starting to seriously worry Yusuke Hiei opened his own eyes again and regained his angered sneer. He tore off his coat and threw it down before taking off at full speed, vanishing from sight before Yusuke could even think to call after him.

Yusuke sighed, watching as George came over to his side and picked up Hiei's coat. Both Yusuke and George started it alarm when they saw that Hiei's sword was lying on the ground beneath his coat.

"Why would he leave that behind?" Yusuke asked. "And where is he going? What did he see with that freaky eye of his? What the hell is going on around here? Why am I the Kuwabara of this half of the story?"

George grinned nervously and shrugged in reply.

* * *

"Grr!" Botan growled, clutching tightly at the frame of the picture.

Kurama gave her a withering look but she persisted regardless, shaking the image of the hologrammatic fox in front of herself.

"Don't come any closer!" she wailed. "Grr!"

"Hey, Hana?" a voice called from beyond the front door. "Is that you?"

Botan gasped, stepping away from the door only to clatter into Kurama. He took hold of the picture, pulling it from her hands and flinging it aside.

"I've never met a flower so resistant to my charms before," he said.

"Did you hear that?" a muffled voice said from the other side of the front door. "There's another guy in there!"

"Yeah, and he's got a really sexy voice!" another voice said.

Botan gasped, waving her hands frantically in front of Kurama's face.

"You have to stop talking!" she hissed quietly. "Please! For your own sake!"

"I can think of a way you could silence these lips," he replied.

"Oh?" she responded.

"Kiss me."

"Do what?"

Botan shrieked out her last words, causing more outcry from the girl loitering outside the apartment, who began banging on the door again and calling for Shuichi.

"It's one way to make sure I stop talking," Kurama loudly replied.

When Botan heard one of the girls outside comment on having heard "that other man with the sexy voice" again she panicked.

"Kurama, please!" she whispered, taking his face in her hands. "Please!"

"Alright then, since you asked so nicely," he whispered back.

"Oh thank you," Botan sighed. "I was so–"

She was cut off halfway through her reply by Kurama's lips pushing against hers. She stiffened, at first too shocked to fully register what was happening. She felt his hands on her shoulders, holding her in place with a grip that was gentle but firm, and despite knowing that she could easily break their contact as her hands were still on his face, she instead let him kiss her, her eyes slowly drifting closed.

It was, she thought silently, quite an experience. She had never thought what it might be like to kiss Kurama, least of all to kiss him in his full demon form, but she supposed that if she had been inclined to imagine it, she would have expected Youko Kurama to kiss roughly and forcefully like Hiei did. However, what was happening to her was anything but rough and forceful. Kurama's lips were fluttering against hers so softly they felt like butterfly wings, the contact so light and sensitive Botan could feel herself pushing her lips against his in a need for more pressure.

It was not so much a kiss as it as a series of light kisses that were gradually becoming more intense. It was almost frustratingly slow and gentle for Botan – which was a thought that would have shocked her before she had kissed Hiei – and in an attempt to force Kurama into firmer contact she slid her hands forwards, her fingers slipping past his ears and into his hair. He made a small noise of curiosity at her action, but his lips did mould into hers after that, and shortly afterwards the kiss began to become more passionate.

Botan moved her hands further into Kurama's hair, silently wondering why it did not feel so silky and fine as it had before. And it was also strange that she had felt human ears on the sides of his head, she thought to herself. Did he have human and fox ears? Four ears? Well, she supposed, she had never really had the chance to look before.

Suddenly Kurama grunted and gripped his hands tighter into Botan's shoulders. Without breaking their kiss she opened her eyes to look at him questioningly, her first thought being that she now understood why his hair felt courser and why she had felt human ears on the sides of his head: he was back in his human form, as the effects of the Fruit of Previous Life had apparently run out. Botan's second thought was that she was passionately kissing Kurama and he was staring down at her with the most horrified look she had ever seen him wear.

Slowly Botan withdrew from him, looking up at him warily.

"Did you feel that?" he asked, turning his head slightly towards the living room.

"Feel what?" she echoed. "Your tongue in my mouth?"

"It felt like an energy pulse, like a psychic signal reaching into the room," he replied, frowning slightly.

Botan narrowed her eyes at him.

"You demons are all the same…" she grumbled. "You just kiss a girl and then act like it means nothing…"

"I sense that we may not have much time left," he said, turning from her.

Botan sighed indignantly as he walked off, disappearing into the bedroom. Once he was out of sight she touched a hand to her lips, still surprised that a kiss could be so different from one person to another. Kurama had been very tender and inviting and more like how she supposed she had once imagined kisses to be. Hiei's kisses had made her feel overwhelmed and dominated, but with Kurama it felt more like a two-way emotion, more liked a shared experience. She supposed Hiei kissed selfishly, but she had never realised it before because she had never had anything else to compare it to. She found herself wondering if Kurama's lips would feel as gentle and loving against other parts of her body: and that thought made her start to blush.

"Botan?" Kurama said, pausing in front of her.

She opened her mouth to make a silly excuse about the temperature in the apartment being the real reason for her face turning red but she forgot all about her appearance as she noticed that Kurama was holding a Fruit of Previous Life in each hand.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she asked, pointing at the fruits.

"I'm sorry Botan, I have to finish my experimentation," he replied.

Kurama continued through to the kitchen, with Botan following at his heels, watching him worriedly. He juiced each fruit into a separate glass as he had done before and then took out a third glass. He poured a little of each of the two juices into the third glass until it was full with about half of each kind of juice.

"Are you going to drink that?" Botan asked.

Kurama paused, giving her a slightly confused look.

"Well, yes," he eventually replied.

Botan gasped as he then proceeded to drink down the entire contents of the glass in one go.

"But…" she said as he replaced the glass to the counter. "What if the side effects…"

"I trust you Botan," Kurama replied. "Though maybe you should put up a barrier to protect yourself just to be sure."

"That won't be necessary! You wouldn't hurt me!"

"Not intentionally, no. But one of these fruits does make me quite violent, and the other made me… Quite amorous… Protect yourself, please."

"Oh dear… Does that mean…?"

"I'm hoping to find a balance between the violence of my own fruit and the excessive calm brought on by yours. With any luck, combining the two will result in something suitable."

"A-and if it doesn't?"

Botan waited for Kurama to answer her but he instead lowered his face into his hands, his hair lightening and ears sprouting out of the top of his head. She silently hoped that this time, Youko Kurama would be a little more reasonable.

"K-Kurama?" she said.

He slowly lifted his head again, smiling as their eyes met.

"How do you feel?" she asked him.

His smile widened slightly and he started moving out of the kitchen towards her, and again she backed up nervously.

"Oh my…" she muttered.

* * *

Hiei paced up and down a small section of pavement across the street from Kurama's apartment block. He was unsure what to do next. When he had used his jagan to check on Botan from demon world he had seen her kissing that traitorous red-haired fox bastard, and he had immediately felt three different emotions, one of which he had enjoyed because he completely understood it: he was angry. He was angry with her for letting Kurama touch her but he was even more enraged with Kurama for moving in on his territory.

But, in the time it had taken Hiei to run from the hotel in demon world to Kurama's apartment in the human world, he had actually done some thinking, and he had remembered that Kurama had warned him about this several times already. Kurama had said to him that he would take Botan for himself if Hiei only wanted one night with her, and of course Hiei had not claimed to want any more than just that. He still did not want any more than one night with her, but as he had yet to have that one night, Kurama had no business getting involved and wooing the woman with his enchanted flowers and his effeminate mannerisms.

And the more Hiei had thought about Kurama betraying their alliance by making a move on Botan, the more Hiei started to realise just how ridiculous the situation actually was: Kurama, unlike Hiei, did believe in all that love and romance crap. He had already betrayed Hiei's trust once because of his love for a woman – when he had basically used Hiei to get the Forlorn Hope to save his human mother's life – and now he was doing it again. And Botan was probably lapping it up, since she was longing for all that nonsense.

It was about then that Hiei had reached the street Kurama lived on, and he had realised that he did not actually know why he had gone there or what he expected to do. Was he going to break into Kurama's apartment? And what then? He was angry at both Kurama and Botan, but what exactly was he going to say to them if he did walk in on them kissing – or worse?

As he paced up and down outside the apartment block, Hiei began to remember something else that infuriating fox had said to him: "have your one night, after that it's not your concern what she does". Obviously that was Kurama's warning to him. Kurama had an infuriating habit of doing that, Hiei thought to himself. He would make cryptic and vague statements that would later prove to be quite portentous and earn him the right to wear that smug, almost-smile of self-satisfaction at once more being proved right about something. He was always thinking ahead, always scheming, always planning and always right.

Kurama was always right about everything, Hiei thought angrily, absolutely everything.

Kurama was right that Hiei wanted to keep Botan for himself.

Though not it that pathetic, life-partner, love and romance kind of way. Hiei just wanted to be the only one to ever unwrap that little treasure and know the beauty that lay within. He did not want to share her with anyone, least of all someone who might lure her away from him with flowery talk and sappy gestures.

Hiei was starting to understand what one of those other feelings he was having was. He already understood the anger, which had been the last feeling that had hit him when he had seen Kurama kissing his woman, but he was starting to realise that the second feeling he had felt was jealousy. And that was something that was both new and unexpected.

* * *

"This is perfect," Kurama said quietly. "I didn't think I would ever find something so right so quickly. Exactly half of my own variety of the fruit with exactly half of yours Botan makes a perfect formula."

Botan sighed in relief, her back hitting against the wall she had once more been backing up towards.

"It's interesting that our two energies together has actually perfected the effects of the original fruit," Kurama added. "With this formula, I feel like my old self again for the first time in over twenty years."

"Oh, well, that is interesting," Botan agreed. "Maybe it's because the original fruit was grown with pure spirit energy. Maybe half spirit energy and half demon energy makes a better… Fertiliser…"

Kurama smiled, but Botan noticed one of his eyebrows twisting upwards.

"What were you expecting this cocktail to do to me?" he asked.

"Well, uh…"

Botan started to blush and she laughed nervously, not particularly wanting to tell him what had been going through her mind: violent Kurama plus perverted Kurama equals violently perverted Kurama.

"Relax, I was just joking," he assured her.

He moved over to sit on the futon, and Hana appeared at his feet, slithering her way up on of his legs to rest on his lap. He began petting the plant as though it was a cat, and seeing that he genuinely seemed more relaxed and in control of himself, Botan dared to cross the room and sit down next to him. She sighed quietly and wiped the back of one hand across her brow, bringing a grunt of amusement from the silver-haired fox at her side.

"What?" she asked innocently, turning to him with wide eyes.

"Were you really so afraid that I would hurt you?" he asked.

"No," she honestly replied. "I was mostly afraid that you would leave the apartment and that your neighbours would see you."

"Yes, that would have been problematic," Kurama agreed. "I doubt any of the girls in this building would understand if I told them that, although I inhabit a human body, I am in fact a four-tailed fox demon with a long history as a thief and warrior, and in either form I can control plants to do my bidding in battle."

Botan smiled, reaching a hand out to pet Hana on the head.

"I suppose your circumstances are exceptional, but they're a part of who you are," she said. "And none of your friends would change anything about you."

"That's what I like best about you, Botan," he replied, smiling gently at her. "You're very forgiving and understanding. Even now, you have every right to be furious for the way I behaved during my last transformation, but you're very kindly overlooking it."

"Oh, it's no problem," Botan assured him. "We're friends, and that's what friends are for."

Botan gasped as she inadvertently brushed her fingers against his. She quickly retracted her hand and turned from him, noticing that the picture she had taken from his wall was still lying on the floor. She muttered out an excuse and moved over to retrieve it, going out into the hall to hang it back in its rightful place. Once she was happy that it was hanging straight she turned around, surprised to see Hana leaving the living room behind her. She walked back into the living room, looking over at the futon, seeing only a head of red hair sat there: apparently the effects of the fruits had worn off.

"Kurama, are you alright?" she asked as she approached him.

"Possibly not," he replied, rising to his feet and turning towards her.

His face was darkened and something about the look in his eyes immediately put Botan on edge.

"How are you feeling, Botan?" he asked, his eyes looking at a point on the wall beyond her as he spoke.

"A little tired," she confessed. "Expending all that energy on the tree was exhausting."

"Well I hope you're not too worn out," he replied, meeting her eyes at last. "Because I don't think the excitement of this night is over just yet."

"…What do you mean?"

"Well, unless I'm very much mistaken, I can sense three familiar energy signals nearby."

"Three? Ooh, is it Kuwabara, Yukina and… Um…"

Kurama shook his head.

"It's Puu and Koenma," he said. "And Hiei."

"Puu, Lord Koenma and Hiei?" Botan echoed. "That's a very odd combination! Why would those three come here together? Why would any of those three come here now?"

"I don't know, but we can't let Koenma come up here," Kurama reminded her. "If he so much as suspects what we've done here, the consequences would be very grave indeed."

"Oh, of course! Oh dear!"

Botan hurriedly got to her feet and started for the front door of the apartment, pausing as she reached it.

"Those girls are still out there!" she whispered to Kurama as he joined her.

"Don't mind them," he told her, reaching past her to open the door.

Botan turned to look outside, finding, as she had suspected, all three of Kurama's persistent neighbours sitting out in the hallway outside his door, apparently just waiting for him to reappear. They all looked like they had been drinking too much, and the sight did little to reassure Botan's nerves. She grinned at the girls nervously as Kurama locked the door behind them.

"Shuichi and Hana!" one of the girls cried, standing up and opening out her arms.

Kurama groaned very quietly, but forced a polite smile for the girls.

"Hey Hana, what's with the traditional dress?" another girl asked, tugging at one sleeve of Botan's kimono from her position on the ground, almost pulling Botan over.

"Oh, we were at a culture festival," Botan explained, tugging her sleeve free of the girl's hold.

"And what's with your hair?" the third girl asked.

"And are those contacts?" the first girl asked, leaning towards Botan's face. "Weird, are they pink?"

"Excuse us, ladies, we have to be going," Kurama said, putting an arm around Botan's shoulders.

"Are you coming down to our party?" one girl asked.

"Perhaps some other time," Kurama replied. "My girlfriend and I have prior commitments."

"Oh…" the three girls all said.

Botan hurriedly staggered alongside Kurama as he moved off, momentarily too taken aback by his actions and words to make her feet walk properly.

"They're very forceful," Kurama whispered to her as they started down the stairs together. "They believe that Hana is my girlfriend and they believe that you are Hana… I hope you don't mind that I haven't corrected them."

"Um, no, I suppose if they think you have a girlfriend they might leave you alone," Botan agreed.

"That was my plan," he replied.

Botan smiled, though she thought that she caught a hint of despondency in Kurama's features when he had spoken. She could not think of any reason why he would feel that way, but before she could give the matter much thought, she suddenly remembered why they were leaving so hurriedly and panic began to grip her.

"Kurama?" she asked as they stepped outside.

"Yes?" he responded.

"If Lord Koenma really is coming here, what will we tell him?" she asked. "How will we explain us both being here like this?"

Botan looked up at Kurama expectantly, her concern growing as she saw his eyes wander from hers to something beyond her shoulder.

"Good question, Botan," she heard Koenma's voice say behind her. "How will you explain this to me?"

Botan slowly turned around, finding Koenma, in his adult form, standing with his arms folded over his chest and a stern look darkening his eyes.

"Lord Koenma…" she said softly.

"Well Botan, I'm disappointed, but I'm not entirely surprised," he said stiffly. "I never expected you to fall in love with a demon, least of all one of the spirit detective team, and I had hoped that Hiei would have done what I asked of him, though apparently he let me down."

Botan frowned curiously, too frightened to ask Koenma what he meant but desperate to know anyway.

"I asked him to wipe your memories of the one you were in love with," Koenma added, as though sensing her curiosity. "And I realise now that was probably a cruel thing to do anyway. And I can see now why he disobeyed: his loyalty to Kurama is obvious greater than his loyalty to me… Who am I kidding, Hiei has no loyalty to me, but he does stand by his good friend Kurama."

Botan glanced at Kurama, silently wondering why he did not look as confused and shocked as she felt.

"I can't say that I'm ecstatic about this, but it's not nearly as bad as I had first suspected," Koenma continued. "Botan you are a gentle soul, but I know at least that Kurama will take good care of you. I couldn't have let you go to anyone else: not even Yusuke."

"Oh…" Botan said softly: apparently, after finding her as he just had, Koenma thought that the demon she had confessed to having feelings for was Kurama.

"It is actually a relief," Koenma said slowly. "I was expecting to find you here with Hiei."

Botan gasped involuntarily and Koenma started to laugh.

"I know!" he said. "How ridiculous is that? You and Hiei!"

Botan glanced at Kurama again to gauge his reaction to what her boss was saying, but he still looked decidedly neutral, and so she did the only thing that seemed right under the circumstances.

"Me and Hiei?" she said. "Oh Sir, that really is ridiculous!"

She forced laughter to continue the lie, though she felt conflicted after saying such a thing. She had been sure that she was in love with Hiei, but hearing herself saying out loud that it was ridiculous started to make her think that perhaps it was: after all, Hiei had done nothing to return her feelings, and she could still all too clearly remember what he had said to her on Valentine's Day when he had taken her to the beach at night.

"I know!" Koenma continued. "Can you imagine it?"

Botan stopped laughing. Even Koenma thought it was ridiculous, and he was, in more ways than one, a child.

"I mean, they say that opposites attract, but Botan and Hiei?" Koenma said.

Botan silently hoped that Koenma would soon stop, because she was confused enough about the situation and she did not need to listen to him making light of it.

"Don't you think that it's funny, Kurama?" he asked, turning to Kurama. "I thought Botan was in love with Hiei! Can you imagine those two together? First of all, he never talks and she never shuts up! He's a cold-hearted fighter and she's a soft-headed philanthropist!"

Botan gave her boss a withering look: now he was just mocking her, and making the awkwardness even worse. After all, she thought dryly, she had just kissed Kurama, she was confused about her feelings for Hiei and now Koenma was passing it all of as though it was a big joke. She tried to stay focussed on the positive aspects of what was happening: at least Koenma had not discovered the trees in Kurama's apartment or her part in their existence and at least he was not going to punish her for lying to him about her whereabouts that night.

"He's smart and sarcastic and she's air-headed and literal!" Koenma continued.

"Yes, very amusing," Kurama said tightly. "I had never given it any thought before, but apparently you have given it plenty."

"But now that I know it isn't true, I can see how funny it is that I ever suspected it was!" Koenma replied. "He's focussed and ambitious and she's ditzy and laid-back!"

"I think we get your point," Kurama said, his tone slightly firmer.

"He's malevolent, she's benevolent."

"Yes, they are opposites, we understand."

"He's decisive, she's indecisive."

"We get the point."

"He's strong, she's weak."

Kurama twitched slightly as though he was starting to become as irritated by Koenma's words as Botan was hurt by them.

"He's tough, she's-"

"Sir, please!" Botan snapped.

Koenma stopped, staring at Botan with wide-eyes of surprise at her sudden outburst.

"I think your words are a little inappropriate, Lord Koenma," Kurama said. "You should consider Botan's feelings before you talk so candidly."

Koenma frowned slightly at Kurama before turning his attention to Botan.

"Oh…" he said softly. "I'm sorry, Botan. You're right of course, Kurama. Here I am talking about Hiei and Botan and Botan is with you. That was very insensitive of me. Botan if it makes you feel any better I really don't have a problem with you loving Kurama. He's sensible and sensitive and I trust him not to hurt you like Hiei would have."

Botan pinched at the bridge of her nose, silently wishing that Koenma would just take the hint and shut-up already. It was like every time he opened his mouth he said something that made her feel ten times more confused and embarrassed.

"I'm pleased, really, I am," he continued. "I was so worried about you, Botan! At least now I understand why you've been so distracted lately! And when I think about it, I can see that it was happening right before my own eyes and I just never bothered to notice before! The only thing I don't understand it why you said that the demon you loved did not even know your name – Kurama knows your name!"

Botan sighed quietly and rolled her eyes. If Koenma was not her boss, if he was not the lord of the underworld, she could have been tempted to punch him in the face for being so infuriating.

"I suppose you were just panicking because you didn't want me to know the whole truth," he said. "You thought that I would disapprove. And admittedly, it is unconventional for a ferry girl to have a lover, especially a demon with a reputation as a thief who is currently inhabiting a human body, but I want to see you happy Botan, and as long as this relationship doesn't get in the way of your duties to spirit world then I am happy to give you my blessing."

"I see you brought Puu with you," Kurama said.

"What?" Koenma echoed. "No! I mean – I thought Puu was hidden somewhere!"

"Perhaps we should all return to demon world with Puu before anyone else notices him here," Kurama replied. "This is a very busy city, we can't afford to risk anyone seeing him and asking awkward questions or reporting him to the authorities."

"Right," Koenma replied. "Again. Right again, Kurama. Hey Botan, you sure picked a smart guy to date!"

Botan ignored her boss's response, silently telling herself that soon she would be back in her hotel room and she could just go to bed and sleep, to recover her energy from helping Kurama with his experiments and hopefully to gain some mental clarity amid the confusion that was currently clouding her thoughts. She was unsure if kissing Kurama had been a good thing or a bad thing: it was good that it had taught her that kissing could be different with someone else, but it was bad that it had left her so conflicted. She felt as though she had never given romance any thought before – at least not in terms of enjoying any in her own life – and now suddenly it was consuming her every waking thought.

Botan contemplated going back to the ice village: she was not meant to go back there for three more days yet, but maybe Rui's offer of a place to stay was still open, and she could pass the next three days around people who minded their own business and had absolutely no faith in love, romance or men, and so would not talk about any of them around her.

"Let's just go, shall we?" Kurama said.

"Okay," Koenma agreed. "Come on, Botan!"

Botan nodded, following after her boss with her head hanging low. They soon reached Puu, with Koenma leaping on first. He held out a hand to Botan and Kurama knelt at her feet, holding out his hands for her to step up. She smiled at him and accepted his offer, stepping up and reaching for Koenma's hand. Kurama quickly leapt up behind her, catching her in his arms as she slid slightly upon releasing Koenma's hand.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Just a little giddy," she replied, touching a hand to her forehead.

"Don't worry, you can relax now," he assured her.

"Yes, I'm fine now, thank you," she replied.

"Let's go, Puu!" Koenma called out.

Botan jolted slightly as Puu took off and she felt Kurama's arm steady her again – apparently he had not moved it since catching her the first time. In fact, he kept his arm around her all the way back to the hotel, despite the precaution not being necessary.

* * *

"Where the hell have you all been?" Yusuke demanded as Puu landed outside the hotel.

"Have you been standing here since I left?" Koenma asked him as he leapt to the ground.

"You all ran off and left me behind on my own!" Yusuke argued.

"I was here with you, Yusuke!" George said to him, patting him on the shoulder.

Koenma gave George a flat look.

"Sorry Yusuke," he conceded. "I hope the ogre didn't bore you too much while I was gone."

"Sir!" George wailed.

"How about a nice game of poker to cheer you up?" Koenma offered Yusuke.

"As long as you don't cheat this time then sure, why not?" Yusuke replied.

"Hey Kurama, Botan!" Koenma called back over his shoulder. "We're playing cards!"

"No thank you," Kurama replied, much to Botan's relief. "Botan and I are tired, we're just going to have an early night."

"Oh yeah?" Koenma echoed, grinning at them suggestively.

Kurama ignored his response, opening the hotel door for Botan, who nodded her thanks and stepped through the doorway ahead of him.

"You could play cards with the boys if you want to," she said to Kurama as they made their way to the elevators. "Don't feel obliged to take me to my room just because I'm a bit sleepy."

"I don't want to play cards with them," he flatly replied. "I'm just using you as an excuse not to bother. As an added bonus, I get to look quite chivalrous in the process."

He stepped into an elevator and turned around, watching Botan expectantly. She slowly followed him, watching him with wide eyes of surprise at his words.

"That was a joke, Botan," he told her as he pushed the button for her floor.

"I knew that," she lied, turning her head from him.

Apparently even Kurama's sense of humour was sneaky, Botan thought to herself as she listened to the elevator pinging as it counted its way up to her floor. Kurama was staying on the floor above her, and so when he stepped out alongside her at her stop she turned to him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I just wanted to be sure that you made it to your room," he replied. "You look a little pale."

"Oh… Well thank you, that's very kind of you… Unless you're only doing it to look like a gentleman again, in which cause it's very naughty of you."

Botan turned from him and started along the hall, turning her nose up in the air haughtily.

"If I did have ulterior motives, what would they be?" Kurama asked, following after her. "We're alone now, there's nobody else around to hear or see what I say or do."

Botan frowned slightly, unsure if she understood what he was trying to say. But as she moved along the hall she felt increasingly light-headed, until eventually she stubbed her toe on a ruche in the carpet and stumbled forwards. She felt as though she had dived into water as she fell forwards and then jarred against something and was swept backwards, ultimately finding herself in Kurama's arms.

"Oh my!" she gasped, looking anywhere but his face in her awkwardness. "You don't have to carry me…"

"It's the least I can do," he replied.

Botan said nothing, allowing him to take her to her room, where he eased her down onto her feet once more, keeping one arm around her waist.

"Where's your key?" he asked her.

"Oh, yes, of course," she muttered, stuffing her hands up her sleeves. "Now let's see…"

As she fumbled around for her room key, Botan inadvertently dropped something else from one sleeve, which landed by her feet. Before she could even see what it was Kurama had crouched down to retrieve it. He kept up the object between them and Botan's face slowly dropped.

"I don't suppose I'll be needing that any more," she said, her eyes still on Kurama's apartment key.

"I suppose not, no," he quietly replied. "Though perhaps…"

Botan waited for Kurama to continue, but his face changed slightly and he closed his fist around the key.

"Did you find your room key?" he asked instead.

"Oh, um…"

Botan raked around a little longer before finally uncovering her room key.

"Ta-da!" she said, holding it up.

She unlocked the door and stepped into her room, sighing in relief to finally be back. She heard Kurama step into the room behind her and she turned to him, eying him over curiously.

"Do you want a drink before you go?" she offered.

"I don't think that would be appropriate," he replied. "Thank you again for your help this evening, it was greatly appreciated. And… Goodnight, Botan."

"Goodnight, Kurama."

Kurama backed out of the room again, closing it behind himself.

"Remember to lock this door," he called through the door to her.

Botan moved over and locked the door shut. She touched a hand to the door, waiting there until she heard Kurama move off again, which took longer than seemed necessary. She then sighed and turned back to her bed, moving towards it gratefully.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Botan returns to living world for breakfast with Kurama before she goes to visit Yukina, who tells her something unexpected. **Chapter 30: The Dilemma**

 **A/N:** And for anyone who has read the complete original of this fic, you'll notice one of the major plot changes already: Botan no longer has the key to Kurama's apartment that led to all that incrimination in the original… And that's just the first of many changes!


	2. The Dilemma

**Recap:** Botan kissed Kurama (or was it the other way around?!), Kurama found a blend of FoPL that worked to transform him into the "ultimate" Youko, Koenma caught Kurama and Botan leaving Kurama's apartment and wrongly assumed that Botan is in love with Kurama, and he gave them his blessing – which only added to Botan's confusion she felt after kissing Kurama.

* * *

 **Chapter 30: The Dilemma**

Botan awoke the next morning feeling still a little drowsy, but when she saw that it was almost past time for the hotel to serve breakfast she motivated herself to get dressed and go down to the hotel restaurant, since she at least new that going there in person would guarantee her an edible meal. And she doubted that Koenma would appreciate her ordering room service again, so she made the effort to hurry out of her room.

When she arrived at the restaurant, she was surprised to see that Koenma and Kurama were still sitting at a table for four, with evidence that Yusuke and George had also been there earlier.

"Botan!" Koenma said with a smile as he spotted her. "Nice of you to join us… Eventually…"

"I'm sorry," Botan said meekly, sitting down at the table.

"Better late than never, right Botan?" Kurama said, moving the dirty dishes from in front of her and piling them over at the other side of the table.

Botan smiled at him, silently surprised at his good manners – he genuinely was chivalrous, she thought.

"Well I suppose I should leave you two love-birds alone!" Koenma said, grinning so widely at Botan that his eyes were squashed shut. "I need to ask the ogre to get onto something for me."

"I'll see you at the next round of the tournament," Kurama said to him. "I'm going back to the living world shortly, and I won't be back until the night before my next fight."

"Well now that is rather convenient," Koenma said slyly, rising to his feet. "I gave Botan permission to take a little vacation in living world until the next round starts… How convenient for you both, huh?"

Botan scowled at her boss but he continued to grin at her amusedly. She was starting to get a little annoyed at him: why did he find it so funny that she should have feelings for someone else?

"See you later," Koenma bid them with a wave of his hand.

"Goodbye," Kurama replied.

Botan grunted at her boss before grabbing up a menu and ducking down behind it.

"I'm glad you're still here, Kurama," she said with a sigh. "I don't know what anything on this menu is. I forgot what these things are already."

"If you're returning to the living world anyway, why not eat there instead?" Kurama suggested.

Botan slowly lowered the menu, looking up at him thoughtfully.

"Yes…" she said slowly. "I suppose that would make sense…"

"And perhaps, since you are going back to the living realm, I could trouble you for a ride back to my apartment?" Kurama added.

"Oh, of course!" Botan agreed with a smile. "No problem, Kurama!"

"There's very nice café close to my building, I'll buy you breakfast," he offered. "As thanks for the ride home and again as thanks and an apology for everything I put you through yesterday."

"That sounds super! But you don't need to apologise, I was just repaying you for covering for my silly blunder with The Stolen Moment."

Kurama smiled tightly.

"Let's go, shall we?" he said, pushing back his chair.

Botan nodded, pushing out her own chair and standing up.

"It will be nice to eat human food again," she said as Kurama stood at her side. "I didn't realise how much I missed it until I came here. And even just being hungry is still strange to me, since I only need to eat when I'm in my human body…"

"I can sympathise," Kurama replied. "I was a demon, accustomed to demon world food, but when I took over the body of Shuichi, my physical needs changed and I found that I preferred human food."

"How strange!" Botan said. "So…"

Botan walked out of the hotel and onto the street outside, summoning her oar as she went.

"When you took over that body… Did you have full awareness?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Kurama asked.

Botan sat onto her oar and he sat at her side, bringing a small smile to her face: it was quite nice that he sat next to her on the oar, it made the ride seem more social somehow.

"I mean," she said as she took them up into the air. "When you were still a little human baby, before you could walk or talk or do anything for yourself, did you have a childish mind or were you as smart and savvy as you are now?"

"I didn't regress mentally when I took over Shuichi's body, is that's what you're asking," Kurama replied.

"So the whole time your mother was feeding you, changing you, talking to you like a baby and reading you Hello Kitty books, you had the brain of Youko Kurama?"

Kurama sighed lightly.

"Yes, I imagine it's probably very amusing to someone else looking on from the outside," he said.

"Oh, I didn't mean to laugh at you, Kurama!" Botan hurriedly assured him. "I was just always curious! After all of the clever things I've heard you say and seen you do, it's hard to imagine you crawling around with a pacifier and doing poopy in your… Ah, I mean, yes, it must have been quite difficult for you to be trapped in the body of a human child, waiting to grow up to a point where you could control your spirit energy."

"Yes," Kurama replied. "Very funny, Botan."

"I wasn't laughing! I'm sorry…"

Botan pulled her cutest possible cat face at Kurama, who merely tilted his head to one side.

"You're very strange, Botan," he concluded.

* * *

Botan smiled as she looked about herself. Kurama had been right: the café by his apartment block was very pleasant. It was quite a small establishment, and she and Kurama had opted for a table by the window, but even from their position the smells of warm food and fresh coffee filled the air around them.

"Do you come here often?" she asked, looking across the table at Kurama.

Kurama smiled at her question, but as he saw the look on her face his smile faded slightly.

"You meant that literally, of course," he muttered. "And yes, this is where I have lunch with my mother when she visits me, which is usually once or twice a week."

"So often?" Botan asked.

"We're very close," Kurama replied.

"Well that's sweet."

Botan lifted up her cup of tea and took a sip, looking down at the miniature vase in the middle of their table. It housed a single pink rose that was still in bud, its petals tightly wound together, but already it looked like it was wilting in the vase.

"I always think it's quite sad when people pick flowers and don't care for them properly," she said as she replaced her mug to the table.

Kurama smiled slightly and reached one hand out to the vase, his fingertips barely gracing the glass. Botan watched in amazement as the flower inside the vase seemed to become reinvigorated, standing up straighter. The petals began to expand and unfurl, gently releasing their light fragrance into the air. The rose continued to grow and strengthen until it was almost too top-heavy for the vase to support it, at which point it stopped, standing brilliantly in the centre of the table.

"Wow!" Botan gasped, touching her hands to her face. "It's so pretty!"

"Yes," Kurama replied. "You can't judge the potential of a flower based on how it first appears to the eye."

Botan silently wondered if Kurama's words had a deeper meaning than they initially seemed to, but before she could give the matter any serious thought a waitress brought her breakfast and her hunger overtook her sense.

"It smells so good!" she groaned, leaning over her bowls. "It's so nice to eat human food again!"

Kurama arched his eyebrows at her and Botan slowly moved her eyes to her side, seeing the waitress still standing by the table, giving her a confused look.

"I mean, it's so nice to eat freshly cooked food again," she said tightly. "Because I've just come back from a volunteer mission in the desert, and I've been eating freeze-dried food for weeks."

The waitress frowned further.

"Freeze-dried food?" she asked. "In the desert? Where did you find the water to reconstitute it?"

"From… The… Oasis…"

The waitress made a small noise of confusion before walking off again. Botan started to blush slightly as she realised how stupid her attempt at a lie had been, and the sound of Kurama softly chuckling into his hand did nothing to ease her concerns.

"I'm not very good at lying," she protested, hanging her head.

"Yes, I've noticed," Kurama replied. "That was why I took the liberty of throwing Koenma off your track when he started to suspect that you had somehow activated The Stolen Moment. I knew that if he asked you outright, you would never be able to deny it. You become too flustered and either confess or tell a lie so elaborate it is completely unconvincing."

"…Like telling a waitress that I've just returned from a volunteer mission in the desert where I lived off of freeze-dried food…" Botan muttered.

"Exactly," Kurama agreed. "But take heart Botan: your inability to lie convincingly means that you have led an honest and true life, and I envy you that."

Botan smiled, deciding to take his words as a compliment.

"Would you like some of this?" she asked him.

"I've already eaten," he replied.

Botan nodded and started on her breakfast: though she did wonder why Kurama was staying with her when he himself was not eating. But she was glad of his company, since she was anxious about the next few days, and she found his presence quite calming. He always seemed so in control and unflustered and she wished she could be a little more like that herself.

"You're going to see Yukina after this?" he asked as she neared the end of her meal.

She nodded.

"Yes, I wanted to check how she is," she said.

"Take care when you get there."

Botan frowned slightly at Kurama's words, but his expression was impassive so she did not question his warning.

"I have to continue my experiments," he said as they stood up to leave. "And hopefully get what I need from Hana."

"I liked Hana!" Botan replied. "She was fun! What will you do with her after you get the seeds you need?"

"I'll probably kill her."

Botan stopped short, watching the back of Kurama's head as he walked out the door. She was absolutely horrified at his answer, but he apparently thought nothing of it as he continued out onto the street. Botan hurried after him, grabbing his sleeve to stop him.

"You-you'll kill her?" she asked. "But why?"

"The male variety of the plant is very dangerous," Kurama replied. "I can't risk the seeds falling into the wrong hands."

"But…"

"Please Botan, Hana is a very dangerous plant in the wrong hands. Don't humanise her."

"You humanised her first by giving her a name! And you cook for her and–"

"Don't worry about it Botan, please."

"But… What if I kept her after the demon world tournament is over and you've finished with her? You could take her to Genkai's! She'd be safe there! Nobody would steal her from there!"

Kurama smiled and his eyes softened a little.

"Alright then," he said. "But you must promise to keep her concealed there."

Botan nodded and grinned cheerfully.

"You should get going and so should I," he said. "I'll see you again at the next round of the tournament."

"Of course," Botan agreed. "Good luck with Hana!"

Botan summoned her oar and hopped onto it, rising up into the sky.

"Goodbye!" she called back down, waving at Kurama.

He smiled and held up one hand in reply, and Botan turned and took off, soon leaving the city altogether.

* * *

Botan hummed a song to herself as she flew over the forest surrounding Genkai's temple. It was a perfect day in the living world: the sun was shining and it was warm but there was also a welcome breeze in the air and everything on the ground was green and flowering. Botan felt cheered as she saw birds sitting in nests and saw butterflies and bees fluttering around flowers. It was doubly pleasant to be amongst the joys of the living world after being in demon world for so long. She had forgotten just how much fresher, lighter and more delicious the air in the living world was, and breathing it in once again was helping to clear her head. Everything seemed perfect for Botan until she reached the steps leading up to Genkai's temple, where she began to notice something that soon found her gliding down to the ground level to investigate.

The vine of the guilty was still alive by the side of the gate. It had been there when she had visited Yukina earlier that week, but it had been less noticeable then for some reason. Botan wondered why Kurama had not removed it after it had served its purpose, since leaving it there seemed to only be tempting fate. Sooner or later it was bound to catch someone for thinking or acting aggressively, and Kurama had said that the plant could kill, so surely leaving it there was a very realistic hazard.

Maybe Kurama had left it there deliberately, Botan mused. He was so calculating, maybe he could see another reason for having the plant there. Maybe he was thinking ahead to the time when Yukina's baby was born. Maybe he knew something that nobody else did. It was unlike him to overlook something, and unintentionally leaving a deadly plant in a place of peace and a home of friends certainly was an oversight.

But Botan trusted Kurama. He was always sensible and in control: apart from when he ate the Fruit of Previous Life from the tree grown from her spirit energy, she thought. He had certainly not been himself then. The memory of his lips on hers was still a fresh one, particularly so because of what had happened afterwards. Koenma thinking that she and Kurama were together was only confusing the matter further too. He had raised some valid points: Kurama was gentle and understanding with her, and probably the most likely of the spirit detective team to reliably to stay by her side and treat her well.

Botan had never thought about Kurama in that way before, but that morning she found herself thinking about it in some detail. Kurama had always fascinated her, between his long and mysterious past as Youko Kurama and his life as Shuichi Minamino. Botan had little experience of A Class demons, but she knew that even B Class and C Class demons considered becoming human to be a massive step down in status, so she could only imagine how difficult it must have been for Kurama when he had taken over Shuichi's body. Her earlier conversation with him had alluded to as much too: even as a helpless baby he had retained full mental awareness of who and what he was. It amazed Botan that the relationship with his human mother had changed Kurama so much. Obviously Kurama, unlike Hiei, was a demon who did actually understand what love was.

She sighed and started to walk towards the temple, moving at a slow pace, her head still filled with thoughts of Kurama. It had been interesting to see him up close in his full demon form the night before. She had never imagined what his hair and his ears would feel like, and they had felt wonderful against her skin. Botan bit at her bottom lip, trying to push that thought from her mind. It was wrong to think that way about a friend, and she was still confused about how she felt about Hiei. She was finding it easier to put thoughts of Hiei from her mind though because – apart from the nights he had visited her at her hotel room – he never made the effort to spend any time with her. She had gone years without seeing him, but Kurama was always reliably around, always attended every party or get together the old team had and was always polite and pleasant towards her.

Botan stopped and sat down. She was barely halfway up the path to Genkai's temple, but she was too confused to go any further. She did not think that she was capable of faking cheerfulness in her current state of mind and so she decided to just sit and relax for a little while before continuing inside. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts, hoping that she might somehow managed to make sense of them.

* * *

"Here are some flowers, for all of the hours, that I've loved you baby."

Shizuru paused in the doorway before slowly turning her head to Keiko, glaring at her almost accusingly.

"What?" Keiko mouthed out, shrugging innocently.

"You had to ask, didn't you?" Shizuru groaned, putting down the tray of tea a little too loudly onto the coffee table.

"I love your little face, you've got such grace, I love you for sure not maybe."

"I didn't know!" Keiko whispered as Shizuru sat down next to her.

"Yes you did," Shizuru sighed.

"Okay, I guess I just forgot!" Keiko replied.

"How could you possibly forget something this lame?" Shizuru growled.

"We watch the moon at night, the stars that shine so bright, you are the one for me."

"You're a damn masochist, Keiko Yukimura," Shizuru grumbled.

"I forgot!" Keiko hissed.

"You're the one I love, the one I dream of, you are the lock for my key."

"Hey!" Shizuru snapped, tearing a sheet of paper from the notebook lying on the table and balling it in her hands. "That last part was a bit suggestive!"

She threw the ball of paper at Kuwabara's head, but he angrily batted it away, scowling down at her.

"Shut-up, Shizuru!" he said. "You don't understand true love!"

Shizuru groaned, dropping back in the sofa. Keiko laughed nervously at her before smiling at Kuwabara.

"Maybe we should play a game, or watch a movie," she said. "Or, y'know… Just basically do anything else that doesn't involve us having to listen to your poetry any more…"

"You asked to hear it, Keiko!" Kuwabara shot back.

"What Keiko is trying to say, little brother," Shizuru said, sitting up again. "Is that you are boring us all to tears. Even Yukina is sick of listening to you rhyming stupid words like "splendid" with "when-did"."

"I resent that, Shizuru!" Kuwabara said moodily. "I have never used the word "splendid" in any of my love sonnets!"

"Love sonnets?" Keiko groaned.

"Maybe we could play a board game?" Yukina suggested.

"You see?" Shizuru said, pointing at Yukina and glaring at her brother. "Even Yukina has had enough!"

"Oh no, I could listen to Kazuma read his beautiful poetry all day!" Yukina replied.

"Honey, please," Shizuru said to her. "I'm all for being nice, but there comes a time in every girl's life when she has to just stand up and say "enough is enough". Even the nicest, sweetest, most innocent girl has to occasionally go a little bit wild."

Yukina tilted her head curiously.

"What do you mean, Shizuru?" she asked.

"Hey, is that Botan out there?" Kuwabara asked, peering out the window.

"Why don't you go out and check?" Shizuru immediately responded.

Kuwabara narrowed his eyes at her before slamming his sheets of hand-written poetry down onto the table and marching from the room.

"What?" Shizuru said, shrugging as Keiko and Yukina turned to her. "It stopped the torture of listening to his poetry and it got rid of him for five minutes. What's on the TV?"

"I think it's all melodramatic soaps at this time of day," Keiko replied.

"Excellent, put it on!" Shizuru replied.

Meanwhile, Kuwabara continued stomping his way through the halls of the temple, eventually exiting through the front door where, just as he had thought was so, he found Botan sitting halfway down the garden path, her legs and arms crossed. She might have looked like she was meditating but for the pained expression on her face.

"Hey Botan, what are you doing?" he asked as he joined her.

She yelped, her eyes opening abruptly and moving up to his face.

"Kuwabara!" she gasped. "What are you doing here?"

His face dropped.

"It's nice to see you too, Botan," he said flatly.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that!" she hurriedly apologised.

"I'm here to see Yukina, of course," he added as she got to her feet at his side.

"Yes, me too," she replied. "I thought I might stay here tonight. I have to return to the ice village tomorrow, and it occurred to me that I hadn't visited Yukina since the day I took her letter to Rui. How is she?"

"She's great. She's still trying to do things for people, even though she should be taking it easy."

"Things? What sort of things?"

"Well she's still trying to do housework and to… Do other things…"

Botan started to frown, searching Kuwabara's eyes for a clue as to what he was talking about. Kuwabara meanwhile took on a grin and his eyes hazed over with a faraway look. He barely noticed the increasingly stern and disapproving look he was earning himself from Botan, and only awoke to his surroundings again when he felt something winding around one of his thighs.

"Oh God no!" he cried out, grabbing the vine and tugging at it desperately.

"…Were you thinking bad thoughts, Mister Kuwabara?" Botan asked him in an almost superior tone.

"This isn't funny, Botan!" he cried. "I saw what this thing did to Hiei, now get it off me!"

"It's only attacking you because you were thinking violent thoughts!" she snapped. "Probably about me! You don't want me here, that's what this is about, isn't it? You wanted Yukina all to yourself! Well you can just find your own way out of this mess!"

Botan stomped off towards the temple, leaving Kuwabara glancing back and forth desperately between the plant attacking him and the ferry girl leaving him.

"Somebody help me!" he yelled out, disturbing the birds in the nearby trees.

Inside the temple, Keiko picked up the remote for the television and pressed the mute button.

"Did anyone else hear that?" she asked. "It sounded like Kuwabara calling for help!"

Shizuru got up and moved to the window, looking outside until she located her brother.

"Ladies," she said turning back to Keiko and Yukina with a malicious grin on her face. "I think we just found a fun activity for this afternoon!"

"Hey, wait for me!" Keiko cried, hurrying after her as she ran from the room.

Yukina started to waddle after them in her panic, almost running right into Botan who stopped her in the hallway.

"Yukina!" she gasped. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be running about like that!"

"But Kazuma is in trouble!" Yukina replied.

"Well he deserves it!" Botan said stubbornly. "Just leave him out there for a while. He needs to think about what he's done."

Yukina pulled a face at Botan, but Botan folded her arms and turned her nose up in the air, stubbornly refusing to turn back. Yukina stepped past her and hurried on as fast as she could, taking herself outside, where she could immediately see that Kuwabara was being gradually wrapped up by the vine of the guilty just as Hiei had been.

"Help me!" he called out.

Shizuru snorted, clapping a hand over her mouth.

"Shizuru?" Keiko muttered, turning to her curiously.

Shizuru wrapped her other arm around her stomach and her shoulders began to shake.

"This isn't funny, Shizuru!" Kuwabara snapped at her.

Shizuru took her hand from her mouth and laughed out loud, pointing a finger at Kuwabara shamelessly.

"This is not funny!" Kuwabara yelled. "I wasn't even doing anything wrong! And why the hell is this plant still here anyway?"

"But I thought the plant only attacked people with malicious intentions!" Keiko said. "Though Kurama did say Kuwabara should stay away from it…"

"It keeps sending out more vines and they're getting really tight!" Kuwabara complained. "It won't let go – somebody do something!"

"I'm not going anywhere near that thing…" Shizuru muttered.

"I can help!" Yukina offered as she joined the others.

"No, Yukina!" Kuwabara said. "This plant can kill! Don't come any closer, it might take you too!"

"But it's hurting you, Kazuma!" she wailed. "Why is this happening?"

"I wasn't even doing anything wrong, I don't know why it attacked me!" he replied. "And stop laughing, Shizuru, this is so not funny! I didn't do anything nasty at all!"

"Oh!" Keiko gasped. "Kuwabara! The plant attacks you for thinking about sex because that's an impure thought!"

Kuwabara gasped, turning white, then red, then white and then impossibly red.

"Keiko!" he ground out. "What the hell?"

"I was just saying," Keiko growled back. "The vines attack if you're thinking lecherous thoughts!"

Kuwabara gasped at her in horror but she merely arched her eyebrows and folded her arms.

"Kazuma, were you thinking dirty thoughts?" Yukina sweetly asked him.

"…No…" he muttered.

He lowered his eyes and cleared his throat awkwardly and Shizuru started to laugh again.

"Kazuma, you have to stop thinking unclean thoughts," Yukina told him. "I can free you, but the plant won't stop if you don't clear your mind."

Kuwabara started to protest his innocence but a yell from his older sister silenced him.

"Seriously Kazuma," she said. "Just shut-up, think clean thoughts, and let Yukina do her work!"

"Fine," he grumbled.

"And let's just take a few steps back, just in case," Shizuru whispered to Keiko.

Keiko nodded and they both moved back several steps. Yukina moved closer to Kuwabara and reached for the vines.

"I hope this doesn't hurt," she said.

"Oh don't worry about that, my lovely!" Kuwabara assured her. "You could never–"

"Shut-up, Kazuma!" Shizuru yelled at him. "Don't look at Yukina and stop thinking about her or the vines won't stop attacking you!"

Kuwabara grumbled curses against his sister but closed his eyes and cleared his thoughts as she had advised. He felt Yukina tugging at the vines, but their hold did not seem to be relinquishing any.

"I-it's not working!" she wailed. "Kazuma, it won't let go!"

Kuwabara opened his eyes again as he felt a small but bitingly sharp thorn cut into his left thigh, cutting through the material of his pants and into his skin.

"Oh no!" Yukina cried.

"Don't stress out!" Kuwabara quickly said to her.

"But what will we do?" she asked.

"I'll get Botan," Keiko said. "She'll know what to do!"

* * *

Botan stirred at her tea, watching the patterns the spoon made in the liquid, falling almost into a trance. She was so preoccupied with what she was doing, she yelped when Keiko came running into the kitchen calling on her.

"Keiko!" she gasped. "What is it?"

"It's Kuwabara!" Keiko replied. "The vines won't let go! Not even for Yukina!"

Botan dropped the teaspoon into the bowl.

"…Really…?" she asked.

"Yes!" Keiko replied. "You have to help him, Botan! The thorns are starting to attack him!"

"Right!" Botan agreed.

Together they ran out of the temple towards the Kuwabara. Keiko stopped by Shizuru's side, keeping herself out of harm's way. Botan continued on until she was by Yukina, who was almost in tears.

"It won't let go, Botan!" she sobbed.

"It's okay, just relax," Botan assured her.

"But I tried everything!" Yukina wailed. "It just won't let go."

"That's so strange," Botan said. "I thought the vines would let go for you… Something must be wrong with this plant – it was acting strangely the day it caught Hiei, too! I'll call Kurama, he'll know what to do!"

She reached into her pocket and retrieved her communication mirror, flipping it open and pressing a button to call Yusuke.

"Botan?" Yusuke answered her, looking and sounding confused and mildly irritated.

"Hello Yusuke," Botan replied. "I need to speak to Kurama. Is he with you?"

"What the hell do you think I am?" Yusuke shouted back. "His secretary?"

"Don't be so rude, Yusuke!" Botan retorted. "Kuwabara's been trapped in Kurama's plant and it won't let go! We need help urgently!"

"The plant caught Kuwabara?" Yusuke echoed. "So just tell him to stop thinking dirty thoughts about Yukina already."

"Shut-up and get Kurama, Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelled.

"Hey Botan?" Yusuke said, smiling slightly. "Turn the communicator around so that I can see!"

"Yusuke, this is serious!" Botan replied sternly. "Get Kurama right now!"

"Damn it Botan, you're such a nag!" Yusuke moaned. "And besides, I can't help anyway. In case you forgot, stupid, you took Kurama back to the living world this morning!"

"Oh yeah…" Botan said slowly.

"Botan!" Kuwabara yelled. "Stop messing about!"

Botan growled at him, snapping her communicator shut and stuffing it into her pocket again.

"Does anyone have a phone number for Kurama?" she asked, looking around the others.

"I've got his number programmed into my cell phone, it's in my front pocket," Kuwabara replied.

"I'll get it!" Yukina offered.

"No Yukina, don't touch him," Shizuru called over to her. "He doesn't need any more stimulation…"

Botan frowned curiously at Shizuru before proceeding towards Kuwabara and reaching into his shirt pocket. She started keying through the contacts list, her frown deepening as she failed to find an entry called Kurama or even Shuichi or Minamino.

"Kuwabara…?" she muttered.

"He's listed under "F"," Kuwabara replied before she finished her question.

Botan lifted her eyes to him and he shrugged.

"F," he said again. "For Fox Boy."

"…Of course…" Botan muttered. "Do I even want to know what you put Yusuke under?"

"…No…"

Botan quickly found the entry for "Fox Boy" and called the number, relieved that Kurama answered her relatively quickly.

"Hello, Kuwabara," he said.

"Oh no, this isn't Kuwabara, this is Botan," she answered. "I'm sorry to bother you–"

"It's no problem."

"–but we have a little problem here at Genkai's. It's Kuwabara."

"…He didn't get caught by the vine of the guilty, did he?"

"…How did you know?"

Botan heard Kurama sigh through the phone.

"It was inevitable that either he or Yusuke would get caught eventually…" he muttered. "So all you have to do is remove the vines, like you did for Hiei."

"Yukina already tried that," she replied. "It's not working. When the plant had Hiei, the vines wilted and unravelled as soon as I touched them, but when Yukina touched them they were completely unresponsive! We need your help, Kurama!"

"…What?"

"The vines aren't letting go, Yukina already tried to loosen them."

Botan waited for Kurama to reply, wondering if she had lost the signal when her words were met with an unending silence.

"Kurama?" she asked.

"Botan, I…" he replied, sounding far away. "Are you sure the vines don't respond to Yukina's touch?"

"Absolutely!" she replied urgently. "And since you're in the living world, can't you just come here and uproot this rebel plant?"

"I'm more concerned about… Botan, is Yukina close to you right now?"

"She's standing right next to me. Why do you ask?"

"How does she look?"

"What sort of question is that? Wait a minute, who am I talking to here?"

"…You're talking to Kurama, Botan."

"You're not… Under the influence of a certain fruit, are you…?"

"…No. My question was not one of a lewd nature: I meant does she appear to be carrying a child?"

"Yes, of course she does! Did you forget that she was pregnant already?"

"No, Botan, you didn't let me finish."

"Oh, sorry Kurama."

"Does Yukina appear to be carrying a child, or does she appear to be carrying two?"

Botan's eyes lowered to Yukina's exceptionally large bump and she almost dropped the phone as she considered Kurama's question.

"Um… Why do you ask?" she asked quietly.

"Well, it's true that the vine of the guilty will not attack anyone with good intentions or pure thoughts, but the sort of person who can stop the plant has to be rather more than just a well-meaning soul," he replied. "Only a person of… Purity can remove the vines."

"P-Purity?" Botan echoed.

"Yes Botan," Kurama said patiently. "If the vines won't release for Yukina's hands it is because she is not pure."

"It's because she's a demon?"

"No."

"Then what do you mean?"

"I mean that Yukina is not a virgin, and therefore there is a distinct chance that she is currently in the same predicament her own mother once was: she is carrying her own child and someone else's."

Botan dropped the phone.

"Oh goodness gracious me…" she mumbled.

"What?" Kuwabara asked. "What's happening? Am I doomed?"

Botan shook her head, her mouth moving about wordlessly. Yukina crouched down and picked up the cell phone, holding it out towards Botan. She took it back, looking about herself carefully before summoning her oar and shooting up high into the sky, taking herself far out of earshot of the others before taking the phone to her ear again.

"K-Kurama, are you sure about this?" she whispered, still feeling scared she might be overheard despite the distance. "Are you saying that Yukina and Kuwabara… And that she will give birth to a boy like… Hiei?"

"It's hard to say what sort of child a human man would create with an ice maiden," Kurama replied. "Perhaps not one so violent as one born from a demon father, we can but hope."

"Kurama, this can't be serious! How can… Surely… The timing was…"

"It's possible that when Yukina went through the typical hormonal changes before falling pregnant by immaculate means that her attitude towards her relationship with Kuwabara changed."

"But Kuwabara swore that he had never… When we first found out, he was… Unless it was someone else?"

Botan grew increasingly tense when Kurama did not answer her, and a glance downwards showed her Yukina looking even more ridiculously pregnant when seen from above.

"Oh Kurama, it's just not possible!" she blurted out. "Yukina has not left the temple in months, the only men she has interacted with during that time are Kuwabara, Yusuke and you!"

Botan almost fell off of her oar when Kurama still did not answer her.

"Kurama?" she snapped. "Say something!"

"Botan, if you clear your mind, the vines should release for you," he replied. "You are still a… You're still pure."

"Yes, right," she replied. "I'll get to that in a minute, Kuwabara can wait. I'm far more concerned about what you're telling me about Yukina!"

"Perhaps you should talk to her about it, you are her closest friend."

"But I'm so scared! I don't want to accidentally say something I shouldn't about forbidden children!"

"You'll think of something Botan, you always do, it's your most admirable quality."

Botan's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Did Kurama just compliment her? She was glad then that he could not see her, as she started to blush slightly.

"I don't know…" she muttered.

"You lack confidence in yourself, but you shouldn't," he replied. "Your tenacity in a dilemma, your can-do attitude and your unexpected ability to articulate aptly at crucial moments are things you should be proud of."

"Well, I…" Botan began, feeling genuinely speechless.

"If you need anything else, you can call me on this number," Kurama continued. "I am in my apartment, still testing the fruits and working with Hana. Obviously I trust you not to share that information with anyone else, but now you know where you can find me if you need anything."

"Right, thanks Kurama. You're a good friend."

"…A good friend, yes… And obviously it would be wise not to tell Hiei about any of this. And for now I will leave the vine of the guilty exactly where it is, just in case we have a need for it again."

"Understood. Thanks, Kurama."

"Goodbye, Botan. And good luck with everything."

"Goodbye."

Botan ended the call and lowered herself back down, flying towards Kuwabara.

"What was that about?" he asked her as she landed in front of him. "We you making jokes about me getting caught in this thing?"

Botan shook her head and took hold of the vines, her insides going cold as they wilted at her touch and loosened in exactly the same way they had before. The effect was instant, yet the vines had remained strong even when Yukina had been pulling on them – apparently Kurama was right about Yukina's purity.

"Oh hey, it's working now," Kuwabara said. "I guess you're the only one who can make it stop, Botan."

"I guess so…" Botan muttered.

She kept her attention focused on her task, though she could not help but worry about what it all meant: was Yukina actually carrying twins?

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Botan has an enlightening conversation with Kuwabara, she has a disturbing conversation with Yukina and she has a heart-warming meeting with Rui. **Chapter 31: The True Picture**


	3. The True Picture

**Recap:** Kurama bought Botan breakfast, Kuwabara got caught by the vine of the guilty and after speaking to Kurama and seeing Yukina fail to overcome the vine's powers, Botan began to fear that Yukina was following in her mother's footsteps…

* * *

 **Chapter 31: The True Picture**

Botan placed some fresh flowers by Genkai's shrine. It had been an eventful day and she had mainly gone there to get some peace.

"I still miss you, Genkai," she said gently, sitting down by the headstone. "We all do. We miss your sage advice, your dry humour, your strong female persona and your ability to make Yusuke look stupid all the time."

Botan sighed, looking up at the stars in the sky.

"I especially miss your sage advice," she said quietly. "I'm so confused about so many things, and I know that if you were still here, I could talk to you and you would know just the right thing to say and do. I just have so many things on my mind… Tomorrow morning, I have to return to the ice village to collect Rui's letter to Yukina, and then the day after that it's round three of the demon world tournament and Kurama is going to use fruits that I stole from spirit world and helped him grow to win his fight – is that cheating? I can't be sure – and then there's Hiei… I don't know what to make of him at all."

Botan smiled.

"You would probably tell me I'm being silly," she said. "You would probably tell me to smarten up, and you would be right, of course… Only the thing is Genkai, I'm not really sure what I have to do to smarten up this time… I wish you were here."

Botan sighed, turning towards the wind and letting it blow her hair back from her face. She wondered what would happen after the tournament was over: who would the new ruler of demon world be and when would the spirit detective team be reunited again? Of course there would always be little gatherings at Genkai's as there had been before, but Botan knew that, just as had been the case before, Hiei would not attend those small reunions, and it would take another missing spirit world artefact or another tournament or a conspiracy threatening all three worlds to force Hiei to join them all again.

She wondered what it would take to reach his heart, if it was even possible to do such a thing. She was beginning to think that maybe Mukuro had been right all along. Maybe Hiei's harsh exterior really did hide nothing. Maybe he really was every bit as cold and uncaring as he made himself out to be. He was surrounded by good friends, but never once had he expressed any liking towards any of them, only a commitment to work with them when he was made to do so.

"I'm so confused," she said. "I've tried so hard to show Hiei that I care, but he doesn't seem affected at all, and I don't think he'll ever care about me the way I care about him… Even my friends care more about me than he does."

Botan paused, frowning in thought.

"I guess I forgot about my friends and how important they all are," she muttered to herself. "And when I was with Kurama this morning, I never even thought about Hiei. Maybe I should just forget about Hiei and concentrate on my friends instead… Hm…"

Botan tapped a finger against her chin, becoming lost in thought. She had always felt happy and contented with her friends, but being around Hiei lately had been confusing and upsetting. Maybe she did need to forget about him – he always seemed to be able to forget about her.

"Hey Botan."

Botan turned her head sharply, surprised to suddenly no longer be alone.

"Kuwabara!" she blurted out in surprise as she saw him walking towards her.

"Are you okay?"

"Um, yes, of course."

Botan got to her feet and wiped the dirt from her knees before smiling at her old friend.

"Yukina was asking for you," he explained. "She's gone to sleep now."

"So early?" Botan echoed.

"Yeah, she gets really tired lately," Kuwabara said with a small shrug. "It's hard work carrying a baby all the time. I couldn't even do it for one day."

"Yes, well, you'll never have to," Botan pointed out.

"I mean I tried it, but it's a lot more difficult than you think it would be."

Botan's face twisted. At least talking to Kuwabara was distracting her from her conflicting thoughts.

"You tried it?" she asked.

"Yeah, I got one of those pregnancy suits," Kuwabara replied. "I was gonna wear it for a day to understand what it's like for Yukina, but it was heavy and it got in my way all the time."

"…You're really… Very… Sympathetic in all of this."

"I love Yukina."

"You didn't even hesitate when you said that."

"Why would I?"

Botan smiled, patting Kuwabara on the shoulder.

"It's very sweet," she said. "It warms my heart to see the two of you together."

"Yeah…" he said slowly. "You know Botan, before I met Yukina, I kinda had a crush on you."

"Yes, I noticed," she said with a smile.

"And you're a really nice girl, Botan."

"Well thank you, Kuwabara. You're a very nice boy."

"…You're too nice for Hiei."

"What?"

Botan suddenly felt her heart drop upon hearing Kuwabara mention Hiei's name; she had been glad that he had been distracting her from thinking about the fire demon, but now suddenly he was forcing her to relive her confusing thoughts and feelings.

"He's a great fighter, and he helped us out when we were desperate," he continued. "But Hiei's not really somebody I would call a friend. Yusuke and Kurama are like brothers to me, but Hiei… He lets us down a lot and he's always so stuck-up and he never wants to have any fun. I don't think he would make you happy, Botan. Maybe you should forget about him."

Botan could hardly believe that Kuwabara had just bluntly spoken out the advice she had been considering following through with on her own: perhaps there was some truth to it if even Kuwabara could see that it was the correct thing to do.

"…Are you serious?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Yukina said you really like Hiei and I know there was something going on between the two of you when we were looking for The Stolen Moment… I probably shouldn't say this, but I overheard Hiei and Kurama talking about you when I was demon world back then, just after that demon plant caught Hiei. Hiei was telling Kurama that he doesn't really even like you, but he thought it was fun trying to… Y'know, just take advantage if you, because you're a ferry girl and it was dangerous for him to be chasing after you. He said it was just a game for him."

Botan turned her head away from Kuwabara, shocked and hurt to hear him confirm that Hiei really did think so little of her. The thought of Hiei speaking openly about her like that was not only hurtful but it was downright humiliating. And it proved that he truly was cold-hearted, just as she had feared.

"I'm really sorry Botan," he said gently. "I don't want to upset you, but we're friends, and telling you was the right thing to do. Love is important and precious, don't waste yours on somebody who can't return it."

"Oh my…" Botan whispered involuntarily.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yes!"

Botan forced another flawless smile and turned to face Kuwabara again, relieved to see that he was mostly convinced by her act.

"Thank you for your honesty," she said. "I appreciate it."

Kuwabara nodded and Botan wondered if this was a good time for her to be so brutally honest with him and ask him outright about just how far he had taken his relationship with Yukina and if he realised the implications of that if he had.

"It's not long now until the baby comes, you know," he said.

"Yes," she agreed. "Are you still excited?"

"I learned how to drive and I bought a car," he replied.

"…Why?"

"So that I can take Yukina and the baby places. I got a baby-seat for the car too."

"…Seriously?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh goodness, you really are a gentleman, aren't you? The child is not even yours."

"You don't understand."

"I don't?"

"The baby is Yukina's, and I love Yukina, so I love the baby too, and that's as good as the baby being mine, right?"

Botan covered her mouth with one hand, feeling close to tears.

"Oh my, Kurama was right!" she whispered into her hand. "There really is a lesson to be learned here about… How we should all behave and what we should expect in return…"

Botan caught Kuwabara giving her a funny look she quickly covered her conflicting emotions with a smile: though she could not help but wonder at Kurama being right once again.

"Let's get back inside, it's getting late," she suggested.

"Okay," he said. "Maybe you should check to see if Yukina's still awake, she wanted to talk to you before you go back to the ice village – but don't wake her if she's asleep."

"Right, of course," Botan agreed.

They walked the rest of the way to the temple together in a silence that was only broken when they got inside and heard Shizuru and Keiko talking loudly about something. Kuwabara scowled and took off in the direction of their voices, and Botan decided to leave him to it, taking herself upstairs to Yukina's room. As she neared the door she started to remember what Kurama had told her earlier, and she began to hope that Yukina was still asleep, as she had no idea how to even begin asking her about the likelihood of her repeating her mother's choices and giving birth to twins.

"Knock, knock!" Botan whispered, gently pushing open the door and stepping inside the room.

Yukina was lying in bed and looked quite happily asleep, so Botan turned to leave the room again, feeling torn between relief at avoiding the inevitable for a little longer and guilt for not wanting to speak with her friend.

"Botan?"

Botan stopped short, hesitating in the doorway, unsure if she should respond to Yukina's voice or not.

"Botan, is that you?" Yukina called to her.

"Um, yes," Botan replied leaning back into the room. "But I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay," Yukina assured her. "Come in and speak with me."

"Okay."

Botan moved back into the room, struggling to keep a smile on her face as Yukina sat up and she was once more confronted with the sight of her engorged stomach. Botan was sure that, even in the seven days since she had last seen Yukina, the ice maiden had gotten noticeably bigger.

"I haven't seen you since you went to the ice village," Yukina said to Botan as she sat down on the foot of her bed. "Did you see Rui?"

"Yes I did," Botan replied. "She knew that you would soon be having a child, and she asked she to give her eight days to write her response, so I'm guessing she has rather a lot to say to you."

"I wrote a long letter," Yukina said. "I put some of my sketches in there too, I hope she likes them."

"Oh yes, I saw some of your drawings at Rui's house. I never knew you liked to draw so much."

"Rui taught me to draw. She's much better than I am."

"So what did you draw for Rui? More animals?"

"No, I drew pictures of my friends."

Botan tensed slightly, the vague sense that something was amiss slowly passing over her.

"How nice," she said, hiding her apprehension behind a smile.

"I drew Kazuma, and you, and Puu," Yukina said.

"I'm sure Rui will enjoy hearing about Kuwabara," Botan said. "He's very kind to you, Rui would be happy to know that you have found someone so caring to look after you."

"I told her all about Kazuma in my letter. And I told her all about you, Botan. I told her about all of our friends."

"Shizuru and Keiko too?"

"Yes, and I drew them, too!"

"Did you tell her about Genkai?"

"Yes. I told her about everyone."

"Did you tell her about Lord Koenma?"

"And George!"

"Did you draw George? I would like to see that…"

"I drew all my friends."

"What about Yusuke and Kurama?"

Yukina nodded and Botan started to relax, wondering why she had been so concerned. After all, what was wrong with Yukina telling Rui about her friends?

"And I told her about Mister Hiei and how he's helping me find my brother!"

Botan almost fell off the bed. For several seconds she was completely unable to keep the horror from her face, her only relief being that Yukina seemed not to notice or else not to care that she was sweating and panicking quietly at her side.

"Did…" Botan began, trying to look calm but failing miserably. "Did you d-draw a picture of Mister Hiei too?"

Yukina nodded and Botan had to grip at the bed-sheets to hold herself in place. Having seen one year old Hiei herself, she knew that it would not be terribly difficult for someone who had only known Hiei as a baby to be able to identify him as an adult: she silently hoped that Yukina's drawings of people were less accurate than those she did of animals.

"Maybe you shouldn't have done that, Yukina," she said carefully.

"But why not?" Yukina asked innocently.

"Because Hiei is a fire demon, and the ice maidens fear fire demons, don't they?" Botan replied. "Maybe it will upset and worry Rui is she finds out you are associating with a fire demon."

"Oh no, you're wrong, Botan!" Yukina said, shaking her head. "Rui has a kind heart, she didn't want to cast my brother from the ice village, she believes it was a mistake! She would never hate a fire demon, especially not one so noble and courageous as Mister Hiei!"

"…"Noble and courageous"…?"

"What?"

"Nothing. I was just… Thinking aloud… You know Yukina, I would love to see one of your drawings of us sometime."

"I have drawings of Kazuma under my bed!"

"Excellent!"

Yukina started to move but Botan had dropped onto the floor and half-crawled under the bed before Yukina could even lift the sheets aside to follow.

"Bingo!" Botan said, easing herself back out with a pad of paper. "Is this your sketchbook?"

Yukina nodded and Botan wasted no time flipping it open. The first few pages were pictures of animals, birds, Puu, koi from the pond and flowers, but Botan soon found a picture of a human face looking up at her. She paused, her face twisting through a range of emotions from surprise to plain confusion at what she saw.

"Who is this?" she asked, looking up at Yukina.

"That's Kazuma!" Yukina replied, smiling at her.

"It is?"

Botan looked down at the sketch again, silently wondering if it was perhaps time for Yukina to see an optician. The picture was of the same level of quality as her other drawings – above average but by no means brilliant – but the only resemblance it bore to Kuwabara was the curly hair above the face.

"It's not…" Botan began, wondering how best to tell Yukina how inaccurate her drawing was without offending her. "It's not a great likeness, is it?"

"You don't think it looks like Kazuma?" Yukina asked.

Botan looked up at the potentially hurt look on Yukina's face, silently regretting mentioning the obvious erroneousness of her sketch. After all, if she had drawn Kuwabara this way – with an almost perfectly handsome, chiselled face like some sort of superhero from an expensive movie – there was a good chance she had drawn Hiei entirely unlike himself and that was a good thing.

"Maybe you don't see him the same way that I do," Yukina added quietly. "Rui always told me that when I draw people, it's more important to capture their character and spirit than to worry about physical limitations. I always draw Kazuma brave and kind and strong because that's who he is."

"Oh I see!" Botan said. "Well that's a lovely idea! And you're right, that is exactly how Kuwabara is!"

Botan silently wondered how Yukina saw Hiei, but decided not to ask.

"Well I'm sure Rui will just love your pictures," Botan added. "She still has all the other pictures you drew for her before!"

"It was important for me to tell her about Kazuma," Yukina replied. "I know she would love him too if she could ever meet him."

"Of course she would," Botan agreed, sliding Yukina's sketchbook under her bed and moving to sit on the bed again.

"He's always so kind and gentle, sometimes it just overwhelms me," Yukina said softly. "In the ice village, nobody was so passionate as Kazuma. Rui was always kind, but her kindness was more distant somehow. It took me a long time to understand Kazuma's ways."

"Yes, it took us all a long time to understand that boy…" Botan muttered.

"But he was very patient, and now he makes me so happy."

"Well that's the most important thing: happiness."

"I was always confused in the ice village because I didn't like women the same way the other ice maidens did. I suppose that must have been how my mother felt."

"Yes, the… Wait, what?"

"I never thought that it was because I could only love a man. In the ice village, love with a man is not only forbidden, it's not even considered possible by most of the women there."

"Um…"

"Rui was sympathetic, but she told me that I would never be happy in the ice village if I didn't want to be with another woman."

"Ah… What?!"

"I think Rui was in love with my mother. It must have been hard for her when she found out that my mother preferred men."

"Gah… Uh?"

"It felt like a sin to even think about being with a man."

"Uh…"

"But Kazuma was so gentle and patient, and now I understand everything."

"…Everything…?"

Botan turned to Yukina, eying her over warily. Yukina merely smiled back at her, doing little to ease her mounting concerns and awkwardness.

"I didn't even really understand what it was to make love to a man."

Botan raised a fist to her mouth and bit down onto her knuckles to stop herself from yelping out in panic at what she was hearing.

"But now I understand why my mother risked the wrath of the entire ice village for it."

Botan bit a little harder, the pain coming as a welcome distraction.

"It's made me so happy, I have feelings in my heart that I never thought were possible before."

Botan wanted to ask Yukina when she had first been intimate with Kuwabara, but her fear of hearing an answer she would not like combined with her increasing shock at hearing Yukina speak so frankly about love and sex kept her silent.

"It's like I'm finally free to fall in love."

"You're what?" Botan blurted, spitting out her fist.

"I feel like experiencing love making has opened a door to my deepest feelings," Yukina replied.

"Really?" Botan echoed.

Yukina nodded.

"But it was important that I expressed myself that way with someone I knew cared for me, someone who was gentle and patient and loving," she said.

"…Gentle and patient and loving…?" Botan repeated quietly.

"Such intimacy is only possible with someone who is truly gentle, patient and loving, Botan," Yukina insisted. "But you already understand that, don't you Botan?"

"…I think I do now…"

Botan felt that Yukina was, in a roundabout way, telling her exactly what Kuwabara had just told her: that Hiei would never give her the sort of love she wanted or needed. And, just like Kurama had told her, Kuwabara could teach them all a lot about true love: but the thought of Kuwabara teaching anyone about true love inadvertently created a picture in Botan's mind of baby Hiei, with orange curly spikes and a miniature spirit sword, running around Genkai's temple. If what Yukina had told her was true, there was a very real possibility that she would give birth to not only an ice maiden like herself but also some manner of fire demon from her relations with Kuwabara. Kurama had said that a baby born from a human man instead of a demon might not be so malicious, she reminded herself. Maybe it would be alright if Yukina had twins. Maybe the male child would be no different to any other baby. Then the only problem would be Hiei.

Botan slumped her shoulders forward in defeat: it seemed like every time she thought she could see a solution to something lately, another huge complication arose to quash her hopes.

"My brother's very troubled, I think," Yukina said suddenly. "But he feels so far away it's difficult to know for sure. I hope one day he can find happiness like I have. I would like to find him, but even if I never do, I hope he can be as happy as I am now."

"Oh but I'm sure he will be very happy," Botan replied, hoping to steer the conversation away from her earlier selfish intervention.

"I hope so," Yukina said quietly. "Sometimes I think he just doesn't even want to be happy."

Botan started to agree with Yukina's ironic statement but hurriedly stopped herself, lest she had to explain how she had such knowledge of Yukina's elusive twin.

"You shouldn't worry about that now," Botan assured her. "You should get some rest, and worry about the baby."

"You're right, Botan," Yukina agreed with a smile. "I'm sure Mister Hiei will bring my brother to me one day, and we'll all be happy then."

"Yes, well, Mister Hiei is sometimes busy with other things and can be a little unreliable," Botan muttered.

"He doesn't visit any more," Yukina said. "But I know that he has good reasons, and he'll be back soon."

Botan forced a smile, though she was tempted to tell Yukina not to bother waiting. She doubted Hiei would ever go back to visit his sister, and probably only because he could not face her baby for whatever repressed reason he had. He would selfishly use his jagan to reassure his own mind that Yukina was alright and to monitor her life whilst never allowing her the chance to see him again.

Botan sighed, rising to her feet.

"Well, I'm going to bed now too," she said. "Goodnight Yukina."

"Will I see you in the morning?" Yukina asked.

"Probably not, I have to leave early to get back to the ice village, but you'll certainly see me in the afternoon," Botan replied. "And remember: I'll be coming back with Rui's letter!"

"I can't wait to read it," Yukina said. "How can I ever thank you for doing this for me, Botan?"

"It's nothing. Now get some sleep."

Botan left the room, giving Yukina one last wave before she closed the door behind herself. She contemplated finding Kuwabara and beating him about the head with her baseball bat until he confessed when he had first started having sex with Yukina, but she was quite tired and a part of her was still too afraid to hear the answer. She thought that perhaps Kurama already knew that Yukina was expecting twins and that was the real reason why he had insisted the vine of the guilty be left where it was: though she wondered what Hiei would honestly do if Yukina did have Kuwabara's baby. After all, he had chosen not to tell Yukina of their relationship, so really he had no right to interfere.

As Botan made her way to the room she was staying in she passed the living room, where Kuwabara was trying to stop his sister from switching on the karaoke machine and a violent argument was pending, with Keiko desperately trying to play peacekeeper in the middle. Botan kept walking to her room, though she wondered why: her mind was far too preoccupied to be ready for sleep.

* * *

Botan hummed a tune to herself as she flew towards the swirling grey mass of clouds that hid the ice village. She had worn an extra layer of clothes for her return visit, since even the thick winter coat she had on had been insufficient to keep out the cold on her last trip there. She had Yukina's hair ribbon prominently visible atop her head again just in case Rui's promise that the elders would not try to attack her did not prove to be true. It was not that Botan did not trust Rui, but she doubted that even the entire village of ice maidens combined would be strength enough to stop that one, exceptionally old woman with the hunchback. Botan could still clearly see the woman's sunken face and the way her eyes had glowed when she had perceived Botan as a threat during her last visit: the power that had radiated off of her had been shocking to say the least. Spirit world archives told Botan that ice maidens were not strong, mainly because of their lack of combat experience, and it would be rare if not impossible to find an ice maiden ranking above lower D-class. Botan now disputed that information, as she was sure that the old lady she had met was at least an upper C-class if not perhaps a lower B-class demon.

Botan gave a small shiver at the thought. The air was getting colder, reminding her that she was getting closer to her goal, and the wind began to grow stronger, whistling past her ears and making her ponytail whip about at the side of her head like a banner. The air soon became bitingly cold and the wind began pushing at her in gusts, but Botan welcomed it. She was relieved to finally be collecting Rui's letter because it was one less thing to worry herself over. And, as long as Yukina's drawing of Hiei had been as wildly inaccurate as her drawings of Kuwabara had been, there really was nothing to worry about, Botan told herself.

As the village started to come into view ahead of her, Botan could see the silhouette of a lone figure standing by the edge of the sheer drop from the village confines, looking out towards her. The outline was too tall and straight to be the fearsome elder, and as she got closer Botan realised that it was in fact Rui herself. Botan grinned and waved a hand at her, losing none of her enthusiasm when Rui merely frowned in reply.

"Hello again!" Botan said as she dropped from her oar at Rui's side. "I put on a nice woolly sweater this time, so I hardly felt the cold at all!"

Rui's frown flickered slightly, as though she was listening to Botan speak a language she could not understand.

"I'm glad you came back," she eventually said.

"It's super to be back!" Botan cheerfully replied.

Botan kept smiling, though she did wonder why Rui did not look glad to see her despite having said that she was.

"I waited here to be sure of your safe passage," the ice maiden said.

"Oh, well, thank you very much," Botan replied, banishing her oar. "I was a little worried that I might be attacked."

"You didn't erect a barrier to protect yourself this time," Rui said.

"Well you said I wouldn't be attacked and I trusted you. I was still scared that someone might forget though."

"You should have protected yourself regardless."

Botan frowned, eying Rui over curiously. Her face was impassive and her tone had been sufficiently flat to make it impossible to know if she was giving a friendly warning or criticising Botan's lack of good judgement.

"Come with me," she said, turning from Botan and walking off.

Botan quickly followed after Rui, again watching as woman and children fled from her, all the while trying to assure herself that they were scared because she was an outsider and that their fear was not a personal insult.

"How is Yukina?" Rui asked as they walked.

"Oh she's just super," Botan replied, trying to put thoughts of her conversation the night before with Yukina from her mind. "She's very excited to read your letter."

"I found much joy reading hers," Rui replied.

Botan glanced up at Rui's profile, seeing the faintest hint of a smile, though her eyes were still dull and saddened.

"I think Yukina sent you some pictures she drew…?" Botan asked, trying to sound casual.

"Yes, she sent me drawings of all of her new friends," Rui replied. "It warmed my heart to see them all and to read how passionate she is about them."

"Passionate, yes…" Botan muttered awkwardly.

"Yukina is like her mother in that respect," Rui continued. "She likes the company of men."

Botan gave a short, nervous laugh, but Rui appeared not to notice her anxiety.

"I worried she might be lonely after leaving the village," Rui added. "But she seems to have found good friends who take good care of her."

"Oh yes, Yukina has great friends!" Botan said brightly. "And they all love her very much!"

"She seems especially fond of Kazuma Kuwabara and you, Botan," Rui replied.

"Kuwabara is very kind to Yukina – like unbelievably so – and it's been my honour to be Yukina's friend."

"She told me she wanted you to be her lady in waiting."

Botan pulled a confused cat face at Rui, but Rui did not notice as she opened the door to her house and stepped inside ahead of Botan. Botan hurried after her, being sure to close the door behind them to at least shut out the wind and preserve the slightly less cold air to be had indoors.

"L-lady in waiting?" she asked, following Rui through the house to the room she had decorated with Yukina's sketches. "What do you mean?"

"Yukina was going to ask you to be with her for the birth of her child," Rui explained.

"Ah yes, of course!" Botan recovered. "Yes, she did ask me, and of course I was flattered and I said yes."

"Then you should take these."

Botan's eyes widened as they landed on the items piled on a small side-table that Rui was holding a hand towards.

"Um…" she began nervously. "I see…"

Botan approached the table, eying over the items with increasing curiosity and concern. It looked like Rui was offering her the necessary tools to go on an expedition to the North Pole, including a pair of long rubber gloves, two metallic spiked grids and a fur wrap that looked worryingly like it had been made from the silver hair of a fox demon.

"Typically we don't need to take such precautions here, but as you yourself are not an apparition of ice, it may be necessary," Rui explained. "These are items we reserve for visitors to the village, unaccustomed to the climate and conditions here."

"Oh, I see," Botan said, nodding her head.

"Do you?" Rui asked, sound a little sceptical.

"Well… No, not really, sorry," Botan confessed.

"If I were to hit you really hard right now, what would you do?"

Botan's eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and hurt: she had thought that Rui was a nice lady who appreciated her status at Yukina's friend, but apparently she had been wrong.

"I'd be very upset," Botan replied, pouting dejectedly.

Rui faltered visibly before shaking her head, her expression smoothing out again.

"No, no, you've misunderstood the point I was trying to make," she said. "I didn't expect you to take my words so literally. I expected you to tell me that you would hit me back."

"Oh… But I don't want to fight you," Botan pointed out. "I just came to collect your letter."

Rui's face twitched slightly but again she quickly covered her reaction behind a mask of calm.

"It is instinct to cause pain when we feel pain," she said patiently. "And giving birth is not a painless experience. When an ice maiden is in labour, instinct takes over, and she can unintentionally freeze her surroundings. It's a natural defence mechanism triggered by the pain she feels. It's not a problem if an ice maiden freezes her surroundings here in the already-frozen glacial village, but it could be a problem if Yukina freezes her surroundings and you with them."

"Oh, I see!" Botan said, finding her smile again. "I thought that you meant…"

Botan laughed nervously as she saw Rui giving her the sort of look that Kurama often did: that look that told her she was behaving like an idiot and it was being patiently tolerated.

"I'm sorry," she apologised. "And thank you very much, I will take these items, and I will bring them back afterwards."

"That would be good," Rui replied. "Do you understand what they are?"

"I think so. I wear the fur to keep warm, I put the gloves on to stop my hands from freezing and I use this item to… Um…"

Botan picked up one of the spiked grids, turning it over the air curiously.

"Those are cleats, you put them on the soles of your shoes so that you don't slip in the ice," Rui explained.

"Oh I see!" Botan said, nodding her head. "How clever! You've really thought of everything, haven't you?"

Botan looked up at Rui, surprised to see her wearing a small smile.

"It's the least I could do," she said quietly.

"I appreciate it," Botan replied. "I never would have thought of such a thing. Yukina is so gentle, I don't think I've ever seen her use her powers… Well I've seen her use her healing powers, but not her ice powers. Is it very likely that she will?"

Rui nodded her head.

"Hina, Yukina's mother, certainly did when she gave birth," she said. "Which was very fortunate for her, because if she had not activated her powers, the son of fire she birthed would surely had burnt her alive. The ice around her gave her a temporary cooling protection from him and it kept her from harm long enough for us to wrap the boy up."

"Oh dear…" Botan said, wincing at the thought.

"I was sad to read in Yukina's letter that she is still not close to finding her brother, I know she longs to be reunited with him," Rui said.

"Yes, it's a very difficult situation," Botan replied. "But don't worry, Yukina does have plenty of good friends around her, she's never lonely!"

"Yes, I can see that."

Rui stepped to one side and held a hand out to the wall of sketches behind her, which Botan turned to as she indicated it, suppressing a smirk as she once more saw Yukina's overly flattering drawing of Kuwabara. Botan edged closer to the pictures, taking several minutes to figure out who was who in each of them. Kuwabara was handsome and dignified, Yusuke was focussed but happy, Kurama strong and a little bit scary, Puu looked like a swan with an erratic hairpiece – which was reasonably accurate, Botan supposed – Genkai looked like her younger self and looked intelligent and Shizuru, Keiko and Botan looked happy and cute.

"I like how Yukina draws us," Botan commented, her eyes lingering on the picture of herself, which was only discernible from the other two girls because of her distinctive high ponytail on top of her head and her oar held in one hand at her side.

"Yes, it's important to capture the spirit of the subject in a portrait," Rui replied.

Botan started to laugh as she noticed a picture of a smiling androgynous figure with jagged hair and large eyes.

"Oh that's so adorable!" she giggled. "I wonder who that is? It doesn't look like anyone I know…"

"Yukina said that man was helping her find her brother," Rui replied. "His name's Hiei."

Botan squeaked out a noise of shock and hysteria: that was what Yukina thought Hiei's inner self looked like?

"You don't know him?" Rui asked. "But I thought that you did from what Yukina told me in her letter."

"Well I know him about as well as…" Botan began, slowly stopping as a disturbing thought occurred to her. "Wh-what did Yukina tell you in her letter?" she asked.

"She said that all of her friends worked together for spirit world," Rui replied. "And since you are a ferry girl, I assumed you would know all of these people as well as Yukina does."

"Oh, yes, right, well done."

Rui gave Botan a funny look but Botan ignored it, pretending to be interested in one of Yukina's pictures of a toad.

"Well I should thank you for coming back," Rui said after a short silence. "And for bringing me Yukina's letter in the first place. It was very brave and altruistic of you."

"Oh, it was nothing!" Botan said, smiling amiably.

"I am very grateful to you though," Rui said, sounding surprisingly insistent. "I wanted to give you something to show my appreciation for what you've done for me and for Yukina."

"You don't have to do that!" Botan said hurriedly. "I don't mind helping out at all!"

"Please, I'd like you to accept a token of my gratitude. It's not something of any material value, but I hope you like it."

Botan shook her head, at a loss for words. She felt a little guilty then as she did not like to think that Rui felt in any way indebted to her or that she was only helping Yukina because she sought monetary compensation.

"I drew a picture of you," Rui said.

"Of me?" Botan echoed, pointing at herself. "Really?"

"Yes," Rui replied. "And I'd like you to have it as my way of thanks."

"Oh alrighty, that sounds lovely!"

Botan smiled cheerfully, relieved that Rui had not cried her a pair of earrings as she had first feared might be the case.

"Here we are," Rui said, holding out a roll of paper towards Botan.

"Can I look at it now?" Botan asked.

Rui frowned at her as though she was asking something ridiculous.

"Of course," she said slowly.

"Oh goody!"

Botan took the scroll from Rui's hand and unravelled it, her smile fading as she revealed the illustration on the page. She was not entirely sure what she had expected it to look like, but what she did see took her breath away. She supposed that she had been expecting it to be cute and simple like Yukina's picture of her had been, but instead it was intricate in detail and a shocking likeness. But as perfect as the picture was, it was mostly the expression Rui had drawn on Botan's face that captivated her attention.

"Th-this is beautiful," Botan said quietly. "Oh, not that I mean that I think that I'm beautiful myself, I mean that your skill as an artist is just… Amazing! I love how you've drawn me! The look on my face is so… Calm and intelligent and strong!"

"I tried to draw you how I saw you," Rui replied.

Botan slowly lowered the picture, looking over the top of it at Rui, surprised to see that she was serious.

"I didn't think that anybody thought that I was calm, intelligent and strong," she said quietly. "In fact, I think everyone thinks that I'm neurotic, stupid and weak!"

"You were very strong, in character and in spirit, to risk coming her for a friend," Rui replied. "And you have a sense of calm about you, as though nothing would ever dampen your spirits. And from what I know of you and what Yukina tells me about you, clearly you have a natural, instinctual intelligence."

""Instinctual intelligence"?" Botan echoed.

"Yes. Perhaps you are not a great scholar, but you are a great problem solver, a quick-thinker."

Botan whimpered, looking down at Rui's drawing again.

"It's so beautiful and you're so nice to say those things about me!" she wailed.

"Goodness…" Rui muttered, running to the other side of the room.

"Nobody's ever said such nice things about me!" Botan continued, tears filling her eyes. "You've made me feel so special!"

Botan started to sob but was stopped from becoming hysterical when Rui reappeared in front of her, cradling a bowl beneath her face and watching her expectantly.

"What are you doing?" Botan asked her.

"…Catching your tears?" Rui replied.

"I don't cry hiruiseki," Botan pointed out. "I'm not special, I'm just the stupid ferry girl everyone laughs at!"

Botan began to cry openly and Rui visibly panicked.

"I-I didn't mean to upset you!" she said hurriedly. "I thought you would like the picture! I'll tear it up if you want!"

"No!" Botan sobbed. "I love the picture!"

"But you're crying!" Rui said. "I've upset you!"

"I'm crying because I'm so happy!" Botan replied.

"…That doesn't make any sense!"

"I'm also crying because I'm so sad!"

"Then please, let me destroy that picture!"

"No! I want to keep it forever and ever and ever! Nobody ever takes me seriously, I want to always remember that somebody did just once!"

"Oh my… Is there anything I can do for you to stop your pain?"

"Can I have a hanky?"

"…A what?"

"A hanky. To blow my nose."

"…To do what to your nose?"

Botan calmed down a little as she tried to consider why Rui was looking and sounding so confused. She sniffled and saw Rui wince visibly before tilting her head slightly as though fearfully fascinated with watching her cry.

"You cry stones," Botan said flatly. "And you live in constant cold. Your nose probably never runs, right? You don't know what a hanky is because you've never needed one."

Rui still looked perplexed but Botan knew that she was right.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know what came over me. I think I was just overwhelmed by your kindness."

"Are people not normally kind to you?" Rui asked. "I can't understand why that would be, since you yourself are clearly very kind to others."

"People think I'm stupid and they can't be bothered with me," Botan replied. "No… That's not true… People do laugh at me a lot though. Even my own boss thinks I'm a fool sometimes."

"Is your boss a man?"

"Yes."

"I've never cared for men. The motto of our people is: "women create and men destroy", and it's true."

Botan smiled.

"Maybe I should come and live here instead," she said. "At least here I might be taken a little more seriously."

"I wish that you meant that, I truly do," Rui said quietly. "I would gladly take into my home."

"Y-you would?" Botan asked. "You really are a nice lady, you hardly even know me but still you would give me a home? How wonderful."

"If I was to be completely honest with you Botan, I would tell that I enjoyed drawing your portrait. You are a very attractive woman."

"Oh, well, you don't have to say that!"

"But I mean it. You are beautiful, and your lively spirit is so refreshing and inviting to me."

Botan hesitated, the look in Rui's eyes telling her that she was missing something.

"Have you ever been with a woman before, Botan?"

Botan stopped breathing, realisation suddenly clicking into place in her mind with alarming alacrity.

"Uh…" she began. "Well, no, not like that I haven't… B-but I haven't been with a man, either…"

"Have you ever thought about being with a woman?" Rui asked.

"No, I can't say that I have…"

"What a pity."

"Though, um… I guess it would be wrong to dismiss something until I'd tried it…"

Botan looked over at Rui, almost scared when she saw a distinct flicker of emotion pass over the ice maiden's eyes and a lop-sided smirk appearing on her face.

"I-I've recently learned that kissing can vary greatly from one person to the next…" Botan added. "And-and maybe that means something about… True feelings… I-I wouldn't want to say that I was against being attracted to someone, because sometimes kissing someone can really… Change your opinion…"

"Well," Rui said gently. "Maybe I can help you with your confusion."

"…Really?"

Rui stepped forwards and reached out her hands. Botan gasped softly as she felt Rui taking hold of her hands: even through her gloves she could feel the coolness of the ice maiden's skin. She was not entirely sure that she wanted what appeared to be happening, but she just as curious as she was reluctant, and so she simply closed her eyes as Rui moved closer to her.

Botan was surprised – even though she knew that an ice maiden's skin was cold to the touch – to feel that Rui's lips were cool against her own. Her kiss was quite gentle, though not as tender as Kurama's, but it quickly progressed into something more intimate as she sucked Botan's bottom lip into her mouth and slid her tongue forwards. Botan opened her mouth nervously, soon finding herself sharing a passionate kiss with Yukina's friend. And although it confirmed her belief that kissing did differ greatly from one person to the next, she was starting to become uncomfortable at both the thought of what she was doing and the fervour with which it was happening.

To Botan's relief, Rui ended the moment shortly after her awkwardness started, moving back to smile at her gently.

"W-well, that was certainly… Interesting…" Botan said, trying to smile back.

"But still you prefer men, right?" Rui said, sounding still a little saddened despite her smile.

"I-I'm afraid so, yes," Botan replied honestly.

"I wonder why," Rui said, releasing her hands. "They are cruel, rough, vicious, violent and unthinking."

Botan shook her head.

"Only some are like that," she said. "And to be fair, there are a lot of women who are cruel, rough, vicious, violent and unthinking."

"Perhaps, but those are mostly male traits," Rui replied.

"None of the men I know are like that," Botan said.

"That's good," Rui said. "I wouldn't want a man like that around Yukina."

"Well, no worries there! Kuwabara is kind, gentle and very considerate. He is a man of honour and he has much love in his heart."

"I'm glad to hear it. And I appreciate that love is different for everyone. It's all relative really, isn't it?"

Botan frowned curiously at Rui.

"How we feel it, how we express it and how we share it differs from soul to soul," Rui explained.

"Why yes, that's very true…" Botan replied.

Botan began thinking about what Rui had just said, thinking about just how true it actually was: for a woman who lived amongst such emotionless peers, she certainly seemed to understand a lot about love, Botan mused. And how to kiss quite enthusiastically.

"This is my letter to Yukina," Rui said, holding up a sealed envelope. "And these are some drawings I made for her. I needed time to get them just right which was why I asked for eight days. I hope Yukina didn't mind waiting so long for my reply."

"Oh no, not at all!" Botan said, before baulking as she caught sight of the second, larger envelope Rui was picking up. "Gracious, that's a lot of drawings!"

"Yes," Rui said, a strange look passing over her face for a brief instant. "Some things have happened in the village since Yukina left and it was important for me to make them clear to her."

Botan nodded slowly, though she was feeling both suspicious and frightened about what Rui's drawings might actually depict.

"Will you manage to carry all of these things?" Rui asked, waving her two envelopes in one hand and pointing at the table of items behind Botan with the other.

"I'll tie them to my oar," Botan said, summoning her oar with a smile.

"Nothing gets you down," Rui said.

Botan dug through her pockets for something to tie the furs to her oar with, silently wondering why Rui's words sounded familiar. As she recovered a shoelace from one pocket her memory suddenly replayed the moment she had heard those words before: Kurama had said the very same thing to her the night they had gone to his apartment together.

"A friend of mine said the same thing recently," she said as she set about tying the furs to her oar. "And like you, he's very serious and serene."

Botan finished tying up the furs and picked up her oar with a smile.

"And bingo!" she said cheerfully.

Rui smiled at her again before handing her the envelopes. Botan slipped Rui's letter down the front of her coat along with the gloves from the table, but was forced to carry Rui's drawings and the cleats in her hands for practicality. Rui walked her back to the edge of the village, where Botan once more mounted her oar, checking that everything was securely in place.

"Goodbye, Botan," Rui said.

Botan met her eyes and gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I'll come back after the baby is born," she offered. "I'm sure Yukina will want to write you another letter then."

Rui nodded.

"And you know, if you ever decide to leave the village yourself…" Botan began. "There's plenty of space at the temple Yukina lives in, and we'd always be glad to have you there…"

Rui faltered slightly before managing a tight smile.

"…Leaving the village…" she said quietly. "I don't know that I could…"

"If you ever change your mind though," Botan replied. "Just remember that we're here for you."

Rui nodded.

"And don't worry, Yukina will be fine," Botan said, reaching down and taking both of Rui's hands in hers. "And I'll come back to deliver Yukina's next letter and we can talk again then."

Rui nodded but said nothing. Botan gave her hands a gentle squeeze before releasing them and righting her belongings resting on her legs. As she took off from the village she looked back and waved to Rui, who held up one hand in reply. Botan watched her until the clouds had obscured her into invisibility before turning to face forwards, focussing her attention and energy on flying back to the portal and back to Genkai's as fast as she could.

As she flew over demon world, Botan could not help but think that the life Rui lived was quite a miserable one. She decided that it was better to deal with small doses of cruelty, roughness, viciousness, violence and thoughtlessness for the joy of being able to experience the kindness, the gentleness, the passion and the consideration of good friends. She was sure that Yukina realised that too now, and she wondered if Rui would ever feel that way.

As she neared the portal, Botan looked down at the large envelope of drawings resting on her thighs. Part of her wanted to sneak a peek at them and another part of her was disgusted with herself for even thinking that way: they were addressed to Yukina, it would be wrong to open them.

But still, she had to wonder what they depicted.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Yusuke is having trouble with his future opponent in the demon world tournament, Botan sulks with the others for not appreciating her picture, Yukina learns that Hiei is her brother and Kuwabara flips out, and it's up to Botan and Kurama to save the day. **Chapter 32 – The Truth**


	4. The Truth

**Recap:** Kuwabara told Botan not to waste her love on Hiei, Yukina confessed to having taken her relationship with Kuwabara to the next level and Botan returned to the ice village to collect Rui's letter, where Rui gave her a portrait she had drawn of her and they shared a kiss.

* * *

 **Chapter 32: The Truth**

Yusuke looked about himself, growing increasingly nervous at what he was seeing. He looked up at the roof, down at the floor, around all of the walls and he strategically avoided looking at the countless faces around him or what they were watching on the stage. He eventually took himself over to the bar, where he found the usual barman casually polishing glasses as though blissfully ignorant to what appeared to have happened to his place of work.

"Hey, buddy?" Yusuke said, leaning over the bar towards him. "What's the deal in here today? Where are all the women?"

The barman paused what he was doing and slowly lifted his eyes to Yusuke, giving him a look that made him feel more than a little stupid.

"Take a look around you, pal," he said slowly.

Yusuke glanced around himself before sighing and shaking his head in exasperation.

"That's not what I meant!" he snapped irritably. "I meant where are all the hot women? You know, the ones that take off their clothes and dance?"

The barman took a definite step back from the bar, and Yusuke suddenly became aware that he was surrounded by glaring eyes. He slowly glanced from side to side, seeing female demons glowering at him in both directions along the length of the bar.

"I'm not saying that you ladies aren't hot!" he said, laughing nervously. "It's just that this place is usually full of guys!"

"Do you prefer the company of men to women?" one cutting female voice asked him.

"Not like that I don't!" he replied, a sweat breaking out across his brow. "I was just trying to say that I come in here all the time, and I've never seen so many women in here before. Usually the women are just on the stage, where they belong."

Yusuke yelped, realising his mistake a little too late, and suddenly finding himself pinned against the bar by a crowd of enraged women.

"I just don't think that it's exactly tasteful to have dudes taking off their clothes when I'm trying to enjoy a drink!" he complained.

"But you're okay with watching women get naked?" a voice asked him.

Yusuke looked about himself, trying to pinpoint which of the many, many angry faces the voice belonged to. It sounded worryingly familiar, but he was not greatly concerned with who it might be, his primary concern being that he was now trapped by the bar by a hoard of angry women, and he was facing the stage where several male demons were stripped naked and dancing about with less grace and coordination than Kuwabara after a kiss from Yukina.

"Look, I just came here to meet my friends and have a drink!" he tried.

"Than do it quietly, or get out!" the same voice yelled at him.

Yusuke turned his head, his eyes instantly finding the source of the noise: she was tall, she was angry, she was dressed in skin-tight clothing, she had lime-green hair and she was completely plastered from booze already. She was, of course Kokou, Enki's darling wife.

"Urameshi," she said, arching her eyebrows in a starch fashion as their eyes met.

"Hey, you!" Yusuke replied, laughing nervously. "Big day tomorrow, are you sure you oughta be in here?"

Kokou narrowed her eyes at him, lifting up a tankard of ale that was bigger than her head and gulping down a sizeable volume of the contents before answering him.

"I could say the same to you," she slurred. "Raizen's boy… Raizen's prodigy… Raizen's "son"… Raizen's prodigal son, more like!"

She finished the contents of her enormous mug before slamming it down onto the bar and sliding it violently towards the barman.

"Fill it up!" she ordered.

She effortlessly shoved aside the women standing between herself and Yusuke, making her way over to stand directly in front of him. He tried to hold his breath and she leaned over him and breathed heavily, exhaling fumes that made his eyes water.

"You're not as good-looking as Raizen was," she concluded.

"Okay…" Yusuke said slowly. "Well since this is ladies' night, I'll think I'll just be on my way."

Yusuke started to try to leave the bar, but he was stopped by a pair of twin dog demons who were glaring at him threateningly.

"Excuse me ladies," he tried.

"Where are you going?" Kokou asked him, dropping an arm around his shoulders a little heavily. "Stay and have a drink with me, you ugly little son of a whore!"

Yusuke eyed Kokou over warily as he felt her weight tugging at his neck. She was so drunk she could barely stand, and he was sure that her main reason for holding onto him was to keep herself erect rather than a gesture of friendship.

"Barkeep!" she yelled.

"Ow!" Yusuke complained when her voice went mostly into his ear.

"Make that two!" she shouted, pointing three fingers at her empty glass. "Now Sasuke, listen here."

"It's Yusuke," Yusuke corrected her.

"Right, Usagi," Kokou said. "Now tell me this: just how like Raizen are you these days?"

"What?" Yusuke echoed.

He started to sweat again, severely disliking the direction his conversation with Enki's wife appeared to be taking.

"I mean, Raizen used to be able to do this thing with his…"

Kokou's voice trailed off and her shoulders began to lurch forwards. It looked like she might throw up over Yusuke, but frankly he was glad: he would rather she vomited on him than he had to listen to her finish her last sentence.

"Your drinks," the barman said, pushing two large glasses towards them.

"Great," Kokou said, slipping her arm from Yusuke's shoulder to reach for hers.

"Maybe you should lay off of these for tonight," Yusuke advised, pushing the mugs from her reach.

"Who the hell are you, my father?" she slurred in his face.

"Hey lady, you've got a big fight tomorrow, and I somehow don't think your opponent will go easy on you just because you've got a hangover!" Yusuke yelled at her impatiently.

"Well you've got an even bigger fight tomorrow, and I don't see you taking an early night, Urameshi!"

"An early night? It's three in the afternoon, you crazy, drunken bitch!"

"I resent that–"

Kokou stopped suddenly, touching a hand to her mouth, her cheeks ballooning.

"Point it somewhere else!" Yusuke yelled, grabbing her shoulders and turning her around to face away from him.

"I just need a fix!" she argued, turning around in a complete circle to face him again. "What's a good fix for feeling a little bit tipsy?"

"Drink less and take some alka-seltzer?" he grumbled sarcastically.

"And the survey says: hair of the dog!"

Kokou pushed past Yusuke and grabbed one of the mugs, dragging it over towards herself. She proceeded to practically dunk her face into it in her eagerness to drink more, at which Yusuke rolled his eyes and turned his head longingly in the direction of the exit. A glimmer of hope returned to his eyes and a smile lit his face as he spotted Kurama stumbling into the club.

"Hey, Kurama!" he called out, waving eagerly at his friend.

Kurama blinked at him curiously before slowly scanning around the room, his attention lingering on the stage for several seconds before he turned to Yusuke again, smirking smugly.

"Kurama?" Yusuke yelled, his voice breaking slightly. "Don't leave be alone here like this!"

Kurama's smirk widened and he pretended to look at a watch he was not actually wearing before shrugging and turning towards the door.

"Kurama, you dirty, fox-bastard!" Yusuke shouted. "Get back here and help me outta this mess!"

Kurama pretended to look put-upon, but crossed the room regardless and began easing his way through the throngs of women surrounding Yusuke.

"Hey Urameshi, do you know which miserable bastard I'm fighting tomorrow?" Kokou asked, resting an elbow on his shoulder as she spoke.

"Um, yeah," Yusuke replied, wondering if she knew herself before she was asking.

"I know who you're fighting too," Kurama said as he joined them.

"What are you?" Kokou asked, eying him over with a sneer.

"Do you think this is funny, Kurama?" Yusuke ground out, glaring at the red-haired fox demon.

"In an ironic sense, yes," Kurama replied. "On the bright side Yusuke, by tomorrow morning, Kokou should be perfectly sober. And I'm sure that then she will make a more than worthy opponent for you."

Yusuke groaned and Kokou laughed falsely at his side.

"I'm gonna kick your ass, mini-Raizen!" she said, poking a finger at Yusuke's chest.

Yusuke sneered at her and then glared at Kurama, who was unsubtly laughing behind one hand.

"Yeah, laugh it up," he grumbled. "Who are you fighting tomorrow anyway?"

"My greatest opponent yet," Kurama calmly replied.

Yusuke growled at Kurama and his typical vague deceptiveness before grabbing the giant drink Kokou had ordered for him. Maybe if he got suitably drunk it would blur his eyesight and he would not be subjected to the show on stage.

* * *

"I win again!" Koenma cheered.

Chu narrowed his eyes and leaned across the table towards Koenma.

"I reckon you're cheating, mate," he said in a low voice.

"And I reckon you are a sore loser!" Koenma snottily replied.

"You've cleaned me out, so you have!" Jin said, pulling his pockets inside-out.

"Double or nothing?" Chu offered.

Koenma's face straightened.

"What do you mean "double or nothing"?" he asked. "You mean if you win I give you double your money back and if you lose I get nothing?"

Chu pulled a face at Koenma.

"…Yeah? Wasn't that obvious?" he asked.

Chu sneered at Koenma and sat back hard in his seat.

"Game's over, mate," he said.

"You were a ruthless player, so you were," Jin said to Koenma. "And a damn dirty cheater, but I'll be fecked if I could figure out how."

"Come on mate, let's see if we can find Touya," Chu said, rising to his feet.

"Right you are," Jin agreed, standing up at his side.

"We'll win our money back from you some other time," Chu said to Koenma.

"See you later, you lying, cheating shite!" Jin said.

Koenma frowned up at them as they left.

"Did-did he just insult me?" he asked.

"I don't know Sir," George replied.

"It's so hard to tell when he says it so cheerfully…"

Koenma sighed and shook his head, calling over a passing waiter.

"One bowl of tea," he said. "Black, no sugar."

"I'd like a bowl of tea, too Sir!" George moaned.

"You don't need a bowl of tea, ogre," Koenma sighed.

"But Sir, I'm thirsty!" George said. "All this gambling makes me sweat, I need to replenish my bodily fluids!"

"Half this restaurant can smell your bodily fluids, ogre!" Koenma snapped back.

"But Sir–"

"Shut-up, George."

George gasped, his eyes becoming sparkly.

"Sir!" he squealed. "You said my name!"

Koenma groaned, slapping a head against his bandana-covered forehead in despair.

"It's going to be a long day…" Koenma muttered under his breath.

"Maybe you should go back to spirit world and catch up on your paperwork, Sir," George suggested.

Koenma shifted his eyes to George, glaring at him.

"Ogre?" he growled.

"Yes Sir?" George responded.

"Shut-up."

* * *

By the time Botan got back to Genkai's temple, it was mid-evening already and the air was cooler, the sun starting to sink down towards the horizon. She was quite tired from expending spirit energy flying herself through the portal to demon world and back again, and of course the lengthy return journey to the ice village itself. She thought perhaps she would have a nap when she got back to her room, and then maybe return to demon world and spend the night in her hotel room: after all, the next day was round three of the tournament, and she wanted to get to the arena early, if only to see who Kurama's opponent he had gone to such great length to prepare for was.

Botan yawned shamelessly as she entered the temple, stumbling along the corridors noisily, her arms full with the various items she had brought back.

"Botan, is that you?" Kuwabara called to her from the kitchen.

"Yes," she replied.

"Really? Because you sound like a herd of elephants from here!"

Botan yelped out a gasp of indignation, glaring at Kuwabara angrily.

"Yukina's asleep, keep the noise down!" he added.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Botan sarcastically replied. "What a gentleman you are keeping things quiet for her! You're such a gentleman, you ought to be helping me carry this stuff!"

"Gees, what's your problem?" Kuwabara grumbled, walking over to join her.

"Just carry this," she replied, pushing her oar against his chest.

"Eew!" he yelped, grabbing the handle of her oar and holding it out at arm's length from his body. "What kind of animal did you have to kill to make that?" he asked, pointing at the furs tied by the blade of her oar.

"It's something Rui gave me," she replied. "And of course she gave me her letter to Yukina."

Botan held up the envelope to indicate her point.

"Wow, Yukina will be really happy to open this," Kuwabara said, taking the envelope from her.

"And she gave me this, too!" Botan added, holding up the enormous file of drawings Rui had handed her.

"Whoa, what the hell is all that?" Kuwabara asked.

"Pictures!"

"Pictures? What sort of pictures?"

"Well, I don't know actually. Rui just said that she had drawn some pictures for Yukina."

"Yukina draws beautiful pictures."

Botan's face twisted involuntarily. Kuwabara would of course think that Yukina's pictures were beautiful because they portrayed him as a man of infinite good looks, she thought wryly.

"She learned to draw from Rui," Botan pointed out. "So whatever is in that big envelope will be well-drawn. In fact, Rui drew a picture of me."

Botan reached a hand up her sleeve and retrieved the rolled up drawing Rui had gifted her with. She hesitated then, feeling suddenly as though she wanted to cry again just looking at the paper the picture was drawn on.

"Here, have a look for yourself," she said, pushing the scroll towards Kuwabara.

He took it from her and unrolled it, eying the picture over.

"That's really well-drawn, but it's not really like you, is it?" he said.

"It's a perfect likeness!" Botan snapped back.

"Not really," he said, shaking his head. "She's made you look really sensible and intelligent and wise."

Botan snatched the sketch back from Kuwabara and rolled it up again, avoiding looking at it herself to stop herself from crying again.

"Well that's how Rui saw me," she said tightly.

"Rui obviously didn't really see you…" Kuwabara muttered under his breath.

"I heard that!" Botan yelled.

"Keep your voice down, you'll wake Yukina!"

Botan sighed in defeat: she did not want to wake Yukina, but she was angered by Kuwabara's words.

"I'll have you know that Rui thinks I am calm, intelligent and strong," she said, stuffing the drawing up her sleeve. "And I will treasure that drawing because I know that she is right!"

"You're not exactly calm, you just yelled at me for saying that picture didn't look like you!" Kuwabara argued. "And you're always yelling at me and nagging me, a calm person wouldn't do that! And you're not strong, that's why we always have to rescue you! And you can be pretty dumb sometimes: you don't even know what oral sex is."

Botan opened her mouth to admonish Kuwabara but found herself suddenly feeling awkward and afraid as she remembered what Yukina had told her the day before: she had had sex with Kuwabara, and that meant there was a chance she was carrying his child.

"Are you saying I'm neurotic, stupid and weak?" she asked instead.

"Yeah, but you're still a nice person, Botan," he replied.

"…Thanks a lot, Kuwabara…"

"Don't sulk with me!"

Botan ignored him, dumping the items she had brought back with her before walking off, not even caring that Kuwabara still had her oar. She kept walking until she found Keiko on her own by the television in the living room, watching it with the volume down exceptionally low, presumably to keep Kuwabara happy.

"Keiko?" Botan said, sitting down next to her. "Have a look at this and tell me what you think."

Botan removed the scrolled drawing from her sleeve and passed it to Keiko, turning her head away while Keiko examined it.

"It's very well done," Keiko concluded. "Did you draw this?"

"No," Botan replied.

"Well I know it wasn't Yukina, I've seen how she draws people, and it's nothing like this," Keiko said. "This picture makes you look really brave and smart."

Botan narrowed her eyes slightly, but she kept her head turned away from Keiko.

"Do you think it's an accurate expression for me?" she asked quietly.

"Not really," Keiko bluntly replied. "Usually you're grinning or laughing or talking about something. It is a good drawing, though."

"Describe me in three words," Botan said, folding her arms and squaring her jaw resiliently as she anticipated further insults.

"Well… I guess I'd have to say fun, kind and a bit ditzy," Keiko concluded.

"Not calm, intelligent or strong?" Botan asked.

"Definitely not," Keiko replied. "Though that is how you look in this picture."

Botan made a small noise of annoyance, snatching the picture from Keiko and standing up again.

"Where are you going?" Keiko asked her.

"To see Shizuru," Botan replied, stomping out of the room.

Keiko called something after her about a film and Kuwabara, but Botan ignored her, continuing through the temple and out onto the front porch, where she found Shizuru sitting on the steps smoking a cigarette – Kuwabara had insisted that his sister smoke outside only since Yukina had fallen pregnant.

"Hey there," Shizuru greeted her. "If it isn't my favourite blue-haired Barbie girl!"

Botan carefully sat down by her side, suspecting that she would not get any more satisfaction out of talking to Shizuru than she had gleaned from talking to Keiko.

"What do you think of this?" she asked, passing the picture to Shizuru.

Shizuru studied it for a long time in silence before finally answering.

"The person who drew this suffers a great sadness," she said.

"You can sense that from the drawing?" Botan asked, momentarily forgetting her objectives in showing Shizuru the picture. "But how?"

"I can just feel it," Shizuru replied. "But even if I couldn't feel it, I would know the person who drew this was feeling dark. You never look like this."

Botan screwed up her face in anger, but turned her head so that Shizuru would not see her reaction.

"It's too focussed to be you," Shizuru continued. "Anyone who knew you for more than five minutes would have drawn you differently. This is so sensible and serene, and you're so… Erratic."

"Well some people happen to disagree with you, Miss Kuwabara!" Botan snapped, snatching the picture back and standing up again.

"I didn't mean it as an insult," Shizuru said gently. "It's just not who you are. But we all like you the way you are, why would you want to try to be something that you're not?"

Botan allowed herself to look at the picture in her hands for the first time since Rui had first given it to her. It truly was a beautiful piece of art, but mainly so to Botan's eyes because it showed a side of her that she wanted to believe existed, a side that she wanted people to see.

"Lighten up," Shizuru said to her. "My brother won't let us put the karaoke machine on, but we're gonna watch a film. Join us."

Botan rolled the picture up again and turned from Shizuru.

"Surely you're not sulking, are you Botan?" Shizuru asked. "Come on, it's no big deal! It's just a picture!"

"It's a big deal to me," Botan muttered, walking briskly back into the temple.

Botan took herself all the way to the room she had been staying in the night before, standing herself in front of a full-length mirror and eying herself over critically. She was still wearing her winter clothing following her trip to the ice village and she looked overheated, her face flushed. She started to change out of her layers of clothing, but as she did so, she realised it was not the clothes that had been making her face red.

She was upset that nobody took her seriously.

She was not so upset that she was about to cry again like she had in front of poor Rui, but she was definitely sick of listening to other people's opinions about her. She was really, really sick of listening to other people's opinions. In fact, she just wanted to get away from everyone: and she decided that, for one night, that was exactly what she was going to do.

* * *

Yusuke smoothed his hands over his hair and tugged at his collar, flicking it up around his neck. He then pushed his hands into his coat pockets and relaxed his shoulders, walking casually into the hotel restaurant. At his side he sensed that Kurama was still amused by what had happened earlier at the strip club, but he chose to ignore it, instead setting his sights on Koenma, who had an interestingly large pile of money sitting on the table in front of him.

"Hey, you're living dangerously, are you not?" he asked as he reached the table.

"Yusuke, Kurama!" Koenma greeted them. "Are you looking to lose some of your money?"

"Not likely, you cheating bastard," Yusuke grumbled, sitting down opposite him.

"Perhaps you should conceal those piles of money," Kurama suggested. "It is unwise to display your fortunes so blatantly, even in an establishment such as this one."

"Fine," Koenma sighed, gathering up his winnings from his earlier games with Chu and Jin.

"Where did you even get all that money from anyway?" Yusuke asked him.

"I won it fair and square," Koenma replied.

"Well, you won it…" George muttered.

"What was that ogre?" Koenma snapped.

"Ha!" Yusuke snorted. "You won it, but not fair and square! You cheated again!"

Koenma glared at Yusuke before rounding on George again.

"You seem a little crabby, Koenma," Yusuke said, grinning endlessly. "Maybe you need a bottle of warm milk and an early night."

George started to laugh but stopped short as Koenma threatened him with a fist.

"What?" Yusuke asked as he caught Kurama watching him.

"This does amuse you, doesn't it?" he asked.

"Damn right it does!" Yusuke replied.

"I'm going to bed," Koenma declared, standing up abruptly. "But not because I'm a baby who needs to go to bed early, just because I appreciate that tomorrow will be a long day, and I want to be ready for it!"

Yusuke shrugged and Koenma turned from the table with a swish of his cloak, followed closely by George.

"So Kurama…" Yusuke said, once they had disappeared from sight. "Why do you keep going back to the living world in between rounds? What are you up to?"

"I have to work on a project for my studies," Kurama replied. "I would tell you about it, but I doubt you'd be interested."

Yusuke took a deep breath but then slowly sighed it out again.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed. "You know me too well, fox boy."

* * *

"Has anyone seen Botan?" Yukina asked, shuffling into the living room.

"Yukina, we thought you were asleep!" Keiko said. "Did we wake you up?"

"You woke up Yukina with your crappy game shows turned up too loud!" Kuwabara snapped.

"Oh no, it's alright," Yukina said, stifling a yawn. "Did Botan come back from the ice village yet?"

"Yeah, she left some envelopes for you," Shizuru said.

"Here!" Kuwabara said, leaping up and gathering the envelopes Botan had left for Yukina.

"These are for you, my love," he said. "They're from Rui."

Yukina gasped, reaching a hand out towards the envelopes.

"Oh goodness!" she said, dropping onto the couch next to Keiko.

"Move, Keiko," Kuwabara said, grabbing Keiko by the sweater and pulling her out of her seat.

"Hey!" she protested.

Kuwabara ignored her, sitting down where she had been at Yukina's side.

"I'll read the letter aloud to everyone," Yukina said, opening the larger of the two envelopes.

"Are you sure?" Shizuru asked, switching off the television.

Yukina nodded.

"I want to share the stories of my old friends with my new friends," she said.

"Aw!" Keiko and Shizuru said in unison.

"That's so sweet, Yukina!" Kuwabara said. "You're so–"

"Shut-up, Kazuma," Shizuru cut him off.

"Read on, Yukina," Keiko said, sitting down next to Shizuru.

"Okay…" Yukina said, unfolding the pages she had taken out. "Wait…"

Yukina slowly laid out the pages she had taken out of the envelope, her eyes growing larger as she looked between them.

"What the hell is this?" Kuwabara asked, picking up one of the pages. "Why did Rui send you a drawing of Hiei?"

"What?" Keiko echoed.

Keiko moved over to where Yukina was sat, picking up a picture of baby Hiei and studying it carefully.

"Isn't this strange?" she asked, turning to Shizuru.

"…Um…" Shizuru said. "…Maybe not so much so…"

Yukina tore open the second, smaller envelope, hurriedly skimming through it before whimpering and clamping one hand over her mouth.

"What does it say, Yukina?" Keiko asked her.

Yukina slowly slid her hand from her mouth, shaking her head.

"M-Mister Hiei is… He's my brother!" she said.

"What?!" Kuwabara yelped, leaping to his feet. "Oh God no! Hiei's your… You mean that… Oh my God!"

Kuwabara ran from the room, shoving Keiko aside and almost knocking her from her feet in her hurry. Shizuru hurried after him and Keiko quickly righted herself before helping Yukina up to follow. Yukina went as far as the hall before pulling on Keiko's arm to stop her at the sound of Kuwabara retching.

"Why…" she muttered softly.

"…He's probably just… Shocked…" Keiko lied. "…And scared… Really, really scared…"

"I-I know Kazuma doesn't like Hiei, this must be so hard for him," Yukina said.

"Don't worry about that!" Keiko replied. "You're the one who just found out that Hiei is your brother! Worry about yourself! Kuwabara will just have to learn to deal with it!"

Yukina was not entirely convinced, but she did not have long to worry about her own feelings or Kuwabara's as both Kuwabara and Shizuru suddenly came marching down the hall towards them.

"What are you doing?" Shizuru asked her brother.

"Never mind, Shizuru," he replied, pulling out his communication mirror and flipping it open.

"It's late, and you need to calm down and be supportive to Yukina!" she warned him.

Kuwabara ignored her, concentrating on his communicator as Yusuke's face appeared on it.

"Damn it, I just got to bed, Kuwabara!" he said. "Waking up to your ugly face is the last thing I need right now! I've got a big fight tomorrow and I'm trying to get some rest, what the hell do you want?"

"Send Puu," Kuwabara flatly replied.

"Do what?" Yusuke echoed.

"Send Puu," Kuwabara repeated. "Now, Urameshi."

"Hey, Puu is not a damn taxi for every bastard who's too lazy to walk places by himself! First Koenma, and now you! Put your hand in your pocket and buy a bus ticket, you lazy son of a bitch!"

"Urameshi, this is not a joke. I need to get to demon world and now. Send Puu."

"You can't come to demon world!"

"Urameshi, I'm not joking around! Send Puu!"

"…Fine, I'll send Puu, but you better give me a damn good reason for making me get out of bed and for using my spirit beast like your own personal taxi service!"

"I have to get to demon world."

"Want to tell me why?"

"I have to do something important."

"…Okay… Can I ask what?"

"I have to talk to Hiei."

"…Hiei…? Okay. I'm on my way outside, I'll send Puu, but I'm telling him to bring you back to the hotel where the others are, you can't run around demon world on your own, you'll probably just get yourself killed."

Kuwabara snapped shut his communicator and continued out of the temple.

"Kazuma!" Yukina wailed, turning and hurrying after him. "Kazuma! Don't go to demon world, please! It's dangerous!"

"I have to Yukina," he called back over his shoulder. "I need to sort this out with Hiei."

"Kazuma!" she screamed.

"Yukina's right, Kazuma!" Shizuru called, running after her brother. "You don't know your way around demon world and Hiei doesn't know that you know about this, you need to think before you act!"

"I need to tell Hiei that I'm in love with his sister, before he finds out from someone else."

Shizuru stopped short, watching her brother march on without her. She could not think of any way to tell him that everyone knew just how much he loved Yukina, including her brother Hiei. She had always known that one day he would learn about the relation between Yukina and Hiei, and she had often wondered exactly what sort of reaction he would have: bravely going to confess his love of Yukina was not entirely what she had expected, but she supposed it was typical of her brother. Behind her she heard Keiko calling out to her, asking what was going on, and Yukina begging Kuwabara to come back and ahead of her she saw a distant shadow in the sky and her brother hurrying on towards it.

* * *

Botan stepped out onto the balcony of her hotel room. It was surprisingly peaceful back at the hotel in demon world, and she intended to just sit outside and enjoy a bowl of tea before going to bed. It had been a long day, and the next round of the demon world tournament started early the next morning, so she was looking forward to a long and peaceful night of restful sleep. She sighed, lifting her bowl to her lips and taking a mouthful of tea.

"Hiei!"

Botan choked down half the tea she had in her mouth and spat the rest back into the bowl. As she coughed and spluttered and tried to put the bowl down onto the balcony railings she saw the source of the voice she had just heard, and any doubt she had been harbouring about the identity of the owner of it was quickly vanquished.

"Hiei!"

Botan felt the bowl fall from her fingers over the railing, and she barely cared. She squinted against the wind created by Puu's wings as he descended towards the street outside the hotel building, carrying Kuwabara on his back.

"Hiei!"

"Kuwabara!" Botan yelled, leaning over the railings as he drew level with the floor her room was on. "What are you doing here in demon world?"

"Botan?" he yelled back. "Have you seen Hiei around?"

"No, but I don't think that coming here and yelling his name out is going to do you any good!" she replied.

"What?"

"I said I don't think that you coming here and yelling out Hiei's name is going to do you any good!"

"What?"

"I said–"

Botan stopped short as she spotted a figure standing on the street below, apparently awaiting Kuwabara's arrival. At first she thought that it must be Yusuke, but as Puu moved and the light shifted, she realised that it was Hiei. She did not know how long he had been there and whether or not he had come because he had heard Kuwabara calling him out, but she had a slightly bad feeling about what was happening: why was Kuwabara in demon world looking for Hiei? The two hated each other, and it was not like Kuwabara to look for Hiei at any time, least of all during the demon world tournament and in the demon realm.

"Botan."

Botan looked up sharply at the sound of her name, seeing Kurama standing out on the balcony of his own room, which was one floor above and one room along from hers.

"What's happening down there?" he asked her.

"I don't know," she called back up. "Kuwabara just arrived on Puu, and he's looking for Hiei."

"I see."

"And Hiei is already down there waiting for him."

Botan distinctly saw Kurama's eyes flash before he nimbly leapt up onto the railings of his balcony and then launched himself into the air. Botan stepped back in alarm as he landed on the railings of her balcony.

"I have a bad feeling about this," he explained, jumping down onto the balcony floor at her side.

"Me too," she agreed.

"Can you fly me down there please?"

"Of course!"

Botan summoned her oar and together she and Kurama sat down onto it.

"What do you think is going on?" Botan asked.

"I think Kuwabara knows the truth," Kurama replied.

"The truth?" Botan echoed. "About what?"

"About the relation between Yukina and Hiei."

"Oh… Oh dear…"

Botan looked down at the street below as Puu landed and Kuwabara slid from his back. She was slowly taking her oar down towards them and apparently neither of them had noticed her approach – whether that was because she was moving slowly and quietly or because they were too preoccupied with watching each other she could not be sure.

"Hey, Hiei," she heard Kuwabara say. "We need to talk."

"Hn, I don't have anything to say to you," Hiei answered him. "Except to tell you that coming to demon world tonight was a very stupid thing for you to have done."

"Yukina got her letter back from the ice village," Kuwabara said. "Her friend told her that you're her brother."

Botan sped up her approach and Kurama quickly leapt from her side, landing gracefully and almost silently between Hiei and Kuwabara.

"Her letter back from the ice village?" Hiei said, leaning past Kurama to address Kuwabara. "I never delivered her letter to the ice village, how is it possible that she got a letter back from the ice village?"

Kuwabara turned to Botan as she landed beside him and she grinned nervously. Kuwabara pointed at her and turned to Hiei, presumably to start telling Hiei exactly how it was that Yukina had been able to communicate with Rui, but, much to Botan's relief, Kurama started to talk before Kuwabara got the chance to.

"I don't think that's important right now," he said to Hiei. "What is important is that Yukina now knows that Hiei is her brother, and she will need time to come to terms with that, as will Hiei."

"Did you know that you were Yukina's brother?" Kuwabara asked Hiei.

"That's not important either," Kurama quickly said, holding up a hand in front of Hiei's face to stop his pending outburst.

"Yes, and it is very late," Botan added. "And Kurama and Hiei have to fight tomorrow."

"Against each other?" Kuwabara asked her.

"No, don't be silly!" Botan replied, laughing at his question.

However her laughter shortly faded as she noticed the look on Hiei's face.

"What?" she asked, looking back and forth between Hiei and Kurama.

Kurama was doing an excellent job of looking emotionless and unaffected, but Botan could clearly see that Hiei was now irritated by something else other than just knowing that Yukina knew he was her brother.

"Nobody had the right to tell Yukina," he said.

Botan gave him a flat look, feeling sure that he was changing the subject deliberately.

"Well you were obviously never gonna tell her!" Kuwabara said.

"Maybe you should be careful what you say to Hiei, Kuwabara," Botan quietly advised him. "Since you are very close with his sister."

Kuwabara pulled a face at her as though she had said something ridiculous, but slowly the look faded into one of understanding as realisation slowly sank into his mind.

"It was very dangerous of you to come here like this," Botan added.

"I had to be sure," he replied.

"Well it's very sweet that you care so much, but maybe you need to let Yukina and Hiei figure this one out for themselves."

Kuwabara nodded at her words, though his eyes were still narrowed sceptically as though he was still really convinced.

"Hey, what's going on out here?" Yusuke asked, joining the group.

"Nothing to worry about," Kurama answered him.

"Let's all just go back inside and go to bed," Botan suggested. "It's too late for all this excitement."

"What about me?" Kuwabara asked.

"Go back to the living world," Botan replied.

"Can I come back tomorrow to watch the fights?" he asked.

Botan started to shake her head, readying herself to tell him what a bad idea that was, but before she could tell him as much Kurama spoke.

"You could stay here tonight," he offered.

"I'm not paying for his room," Yusuke immediately responded.

"That won't be necessary," Kurama assured him. "Kuwabara, you can share my room if you like."

"...Not in the same bed though..." Kuwabara muttered, eying Kurama over critically.

"You can sleep on the floor," Kurama said.

Kuwabara nodded and Yusuke sighed.

"Great," he said. "Can we call it a night now?"

Kuwabara nodded again and he and Yusuke started back towards the hotel, followed shortly by Botan. When she realised that Kurama and Hiei were not with her, Botan stopped and looked back, finding them stalking around each other, glaring at each other in a way that was almost electrifying the air between them.

Apparently Kurama and Hiei were fighting each other the next day: and surprisingly, her first thought was concern for Kurama's welfare.

* * *

 **Next Chapter:** Hiei vs. Kurama. **Chapter 33 – The Showdown**


End file.
